Frugal Friday: The Art of Thrift

Life As Mom is sponsoring Frugal Friday's again and I tried to think of a good frugal hint this week when I was out on my regular weekly shopping trip. Then as I pulled up to the SECOND thrift store on our regular route, it dawned on me. I don't even realize that thrift stores are frugal because they are SO much fun! Sometimes you might go and walk through and not see anything that you need or want, and other times you will find a goldmine of items, but there are some things that you can pretty much always count on finding at least one of at thrift stores in y our town.


Lamps and lighting
There are usually many choices of lamps and lighting at your local thift store. Some of them unique choices that you won't find other places, some completely ordinary but functional pieces. You might be surprised how many times you will find new hardware and fixtures at your thrift store. People buy for home improvement projects and change their mind, or don't follow through.





Small Appliances
Don't run to Wal-Mart when your popcorn popper or can opener quits. Those are two of the things that are almost guaranteed to be at your local thrift store. Other items in this catagory that are sure finds are crockpots of various sizes, some type of dustbuster vacuum, there is usually an iron and always, ALWAYS tons of hair appliances. This hair dryer in the picture isn't necessarily a RARE find, but it's one not seen too often, so I'd pick something like that up if you or someone else would use it. For $3.00 it's a good buy. Also don't forget to look for TV's here.

Picture Frames

There are always lots of pictures to be found at thrift stores. They are worth looking through even if you don't like the art. I have found some beautiful old frames to display family pictures in.



Furniture

You can always find furniture at thrift stores too.
You won't always find a beautiful piece to match your decor, or a priceless antique, but sometimes you can really find a bargain. I've seen furniture almost like new priced less than $50.00. And then sometimes it's ugly and you wonder who would buy it.

I'll tell you who buys it. A friend of mine has a husband who buys thrift store furniture every year for this cookout that they have at their house. There are usually 25-50 people, so they put out couches and tables on the grass outside their shop building. Laugh if you want...we get a chuckle out of it, but it's really not that bad an idea for extra seating!

Specialty Clothing

Everyone knows that you can find clothing at thrift stores, that's no surprise. What you might forget though is that people send their prom dresses, wedding dresses and other specialized clothing items. So don't forget just to take a look through when you go just to see what's there.

Dishes and Cookware

You will ALWAYS find dishes and cookwear at the thrift store. If you find you need something in your kitchen, why not stop in the local thrift store before you head to Wal-Mart. You might be surprised at what you find. On this trip we found a complete set, 61 pieces, of Pfaltzgraff China in pristine condition for less than $40.00. I took a picture for my blog and went on. When I got home and started writing this, I thought I'd price it. Now I'm kicking myself. There is a 21 piece of the same thing, in worse condition on Ebay for more and they just started the bidding on it. Darn it! Oh well, maybe next week! lol

In fact that's just the tip of the iceberg of all the things you can find at thrift stores. Never again will I buy a vase at a regular store. I buy almost all our craft items here, there are always truckloads of every type of crafting item. Baskets and floral items are almost always b1g1.

The trick for me is to go frequently, because you never know what you'll find. I just make a stop in once a week on my errand day a habit. Many times we walk out with nothing, or with a small token for a child, but sometimes we make great finds for our home, for gifts, and that's one way that I can spend money on myself and not have buyers remorse.

Don't forget to shop at the thrift store. It's the frugal thing to do. Besides, you can find almost everything there. Including...



The kitchen sink!

For more frugal ideas, be sure to visit Life As Mom for Frugal Friday!

WFMW: How to never forget a birthday card again

This year one of my New Year's resolutions was to take advantage of greeting cards to stay in touch with family and friends. I wanted to never again realize that it was one of my nephew's birthdays and that I hadn't remembered to send a card. It's such a SIMPLE thing, but something that can mean so much. We're always saying, "It's the thought that counts." Well, forgetting until AFTER a birthday or never sending a "congratulations on your new baby" card to a college friend is not the way to build strong bonds and keep long distance friendships.

So this year, I vowed to do better. And so far, I'm on target 100%.

I'll tell you my little secret. Come closer...here's a peek

(I just covered the address with a sticky note. I thought they might not appreciate me blabbing their address to whomever might read this blog!)

I have an index card for each month with all the important "greeting card" dates. The last week of each month, on errand day I make a trip to the Dollar Tree where you can get cards on the cheap. They have a great selection too! With index card in hand, I can choose a greeting card for each occasion.

When I get home, I go ahead and sign and address all the cards at once. Then, I put them in my bill folder which is divided up into weeks. Each Friday, when I do bills, I can mail the appropriate card for the following week, so that I will never have to call my nephew again and tell him, "hey kiddo, sorry I didn't get your card in the mail, but..."

Before I devised this system there were many times that I had remembered to buy the card, but never mailed it because I put it somewhere and forgot. I've even put it in my purse and then been out somewhere, actually REMEMBERED to mail it but with my address book at home I would have to call my brother for the address. This way, things like addresses, stamps or location are never a problem. The whole process takes maybe ten minutes out of the day and I'm done for another month.

Preparing cards once a month...it sure works for me. What works for you?

To see more Works For Me Wednesday, visit We Are That Family.

Oh Yes! It is here! Garden time!!

Some marigolds and of course, my big fat Owl that I put in "strawberry corner" on Saturday.

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom

Weigh In Wednesday 4/27/09

Is anyone else watching The Biggest Loser? Those people are so inspirational. My favorite one was booted off last week, Kristen. That girl was almost four hundred pounds when she started and in 16 weeks she had lost 116 pounds and was RUNNING. RUNNING!! It makes me wonder what the heck I'm still doing on the couch. If those people can do it with all that extra weight on their backs, why can't I?

Last night they showed the five remaining contestants the physical/medical effects of all the dieting and exercise they'd been doing the last 17 weeks. In that time, Helen had lost 103 pounds and the doctor told her that she had taken TEN years off her life. At 48 she's the age when most women kind of "give in" to those extra pounds. It's really inspirational to see her kicking those extra pounds to the curb!

So the question is, what's keeping me from doing what they did? I have a whole lot less to lose than Kristin and I'm younger than Helen. Filipe had asthma, so that's no excuse either. I'm running out of excuses here. Maybe I could say time is the issue. That is actually an issue for me, but you know what? After watching last nights show and seeing how much just WEIGHT can effect your medical issues...and how possible it actually is to turn it around. I am thinking now that I don't have the time NOT to exercise. If I don't do something now then I'm going to be in Helen's shoes by the time I get to 48.

So I finally started exercising last week and I kicked it into high gear this morning after watching last nights show. So couple that with the diet I've been doing the past few weeks, and we'll see if that changes anything. I know it will, if it worked for them...ANYONE should be able to do it.

This week's Notes:

Food: I did excellent. No big calorie splurges. A few nutritional choices that I could have made better, but I can live with it.

Water: I did ok. There is still room for improvement though. I get busy in the garden or doing something in the house and forget to drink.

Exercise: At least I've gotten started. I should be improving each week in this area. I'm getting kind of tired of piddling around with this, it's time to make some real changes.

Successes: I think the turnaround in my attitude is the biggest success so far. Now to translate that into actual pounds.


Failures: Just a few nutritional choices that I could have made better.

Weight Change: No weight change.

How did you do this week? Let me know in the comments. And if you make a post on your own blog, link to me below on Mr. Linky and we can encourage each other to keep it up! If they can do it, so can we!

Help!! I Can't Find My Desk!

I'm embarrassed to show you this. I'll warn you now.

I think almost every family has a place like this in their home. A stuff magnet. A place that no matter how hard you try, it is nearly impossible to keep STUFF from accumulating on. The cold hard truth is, that even though it's cleaned up now, if you check back again after all the kids are home from school with their STUFF, and I come in with something that I want to check the computer on...more stuff. The truth is that by bedtime tonight it will look ALMOST as bad as this before picture.
The scanner was still out from my picture project I finished last week. Pictures and paperwork from the kids stacked on every surface area...even Abby's snack dish found it's way onto my desk. It seems like no matter how hard I try, this ends up being our dumping ground for everything. I USUALLY clean it about once a day, or every other day...but this time it's been a lick and a promise for several days in a row and it was getting EXTREMELY ugly.

Here is the after picture. Ahhh, I can breathe again.


Oh, and my garden is my excuse as to why it looked this bad. So check back later in the week so you can see why I wasn't cleaning my office before today!

If you'd like to see what projects others in the blogosphere are working on today, please visit Tackle It Tuesday @ 5 Minutes for Mom

GratiTuesday: A Healthy Child

I know that many of us have been praying for Stellan and his family. The latest news is Stellan was discharged from the hospital on Monday and they were staying in a hotel getting ready to go back home. A collective sigh can be heard all over bloggy land from those of us who didn't even realize we were holding our breath. ahhhhhhhhhh

I, for one, have been watching this story unfold remembering my own experience of having an infant in intensive care. My youngest son, Tucker had a very speedy delivery. There is a reason that our labors with these babies take as long as they do. As the baby is emerging through the birth canal, the pelvic bone is squeezing all that excess fluid from our babies lungs...at least that's how it's supposed to work.

Tucker was born so quickly that his lungs were brimming with fluid when he took his first breath. With that first breath, like a balloon filled too full of air, his lung sprung a leak. This is called a spontaneous pneumo thorax. While the one working lung labored to give him the necessary air, it too had excess fluid, and popped from the effort of breathing. So for a few seconds (which seemed like hours) Tucker had no lungs that were working. The doctors and nurses feverishly worked to put in chest tubes on both sides and my brand new baby had to be life-flighted (emergency helicoptered) to a large neonatal intensive care facility that could better handle his needs.

This is a picture of Tucker an hour after his birth, just before Life-Flight arrived to take him to St. Francais.


He was in St. Francais for his first month of life. He had tubes seemingly coming from every uncovered inch of his body. He underwent a couple of surgeries during his stay, as secondary conditions emerged throughout that month. He was on a respirator when he quit breathing completely the second week that he was there. And the entire time (until the last few days of his stay), his father and I were being told that he might not make it.

I remember the births of my children and their first days with such pleasure, except for Tucker's. His was an entirely different experience. The memory of staying by his side at St Francais, or at the Ronald McDonald house next door to shower or nap, all seems to be under a fog. I was sleepwalking through a bad dream and even the memory now, eleven years later still seems so surreal. I cannot even put into the words the victorious feeling...the rapture, when Tucker nursed for the first time. Being taken off all machines except for his IV only moments before I was allowed to pick him up and carry him into the nursing room. It was a positively life affirming experience. I remember thinking "He conquered death as a mere infant, God has big plans for this one."

And I'm sure that he still does. Tucker is now eleven years old and he will turn twelve in June. He's the most sensitive of my children and he displays a definate zest for life. He has a beautiful laugh, infectious to anyone who's around. He truly cares about his family and his friends.

The boy is a charmer.

So on this day when Stellan is released to go home, I share a special victory sigh with his mother. Relief, Respect for God and life, and a newfound and intensified appreciation for all our blessings. I truly understand the emotional journey she's had, and I wish her all the luck that I've had with my own ICU baby.


For more Grati-Tuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers

The Simple Woman's Journal 4/27/09

For Today...April 27, 2009

Outside my window...It's 50 degrees and cloudy...at least it's BEGINNING to be spring!

I am thinking... of how busy this week is going to be.

I am thankful for...my children.

From the kitchen...chili on the stove, dishes in the drainer drying.

I am wearing...KU baseball shirt and sweatpants

I am reading...nothing right now

I am hoping...that things on the job front will look up soon.

I am creating...two new carnivals. I started the first one this past weekend and no one has participated yet. It's from To-Do to Ta-Da (celebrating what we accomplished through the week). I'm also beginning a weigh in Wednesday on Wednesday...I hope someone will join me on them.

I am hearing...Abby's cartoons.

Around the house...I've got lots going on. I intended to go shopping today, but it's so yucky outside I've moved it to tomorrow, so trying to get other things done from my to-do list.

One of my favorite things...smells from the kitchen when something is cooking slow like chili or stew

A few plans for the rest of the week...I am busy as always. You can see my entire to-do list for the week here.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...I put in my front and North side flower beds this weekend. I removed some tulips that I had in that corner and moved them to my shrub garden on the south side of the house and replaced them with strawberries. I also took an empty corner by the house (where I had annuals last year) and put in some blueberry plants. I cleaned out around my asiatic lilies and put some annual seeds down in the empty places. Here is how it looks. The empty spots will have flowers coming up from seed. Those yellow flowers are just marigolds that I got on sale. I put them close to the strawberries and blueberries as they are supposed to help bring beneficial insects and repel the bad ones.



For more posts like this, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook

Weekly Plan and Menu's 4/27 - 5/1

I started my very first carnival this past week. It's called From To-Do to Ta-Da and I made my first post on Saturday night but it can be done anytime, if you'd like to join in too. It is a look at how we did in our week. A report of progress we made, things we might need to modify and just overall accountability...

I missed only one of my menu items for the week, Chicken Fettuccini, so I'll be repeating it this week. We are leaving to do the spring round up (of cattle) at my dad's ranch this next weekend, so I only needed to plan through Friday this week as well.

Round up's are so much fun. My whole family gets together and we work cattle all day on Saturday and Sunday. We all bring really good food for the lunches, so those of us who aren't actually in the lots working cattle are in the kitchen visiting and putting the finishing touches on our food. I do a little bit of both, but there are some people who come and don't even work cattle at all, they just come to visit and watch...and eat!

Now for the plans and menu's this week. Menu items are in red.

Monday
Morning routine
Grocery list and start chili in crockpot
Weekly shopping trip
pickup free Redbox movie
call for truck repair and rental
check ironing
Tackle office and pictures for blog
Chili for supper
blog posts before bed



Tuesday

Ask J to Return Redbox movie
Morning routine
Work on proposals and Resume
Garden work
Cream Can for supper
Reunion calls made
Post Wed blogs before bed


Wednesday

Morning routine
Laundry catch up day
Crock pot chickens for casseroles and broth (prep for another day, not this week)
Extra Blog work
WHS site work
reunion tasks
Chicken Fettuccini w/Alfredo Sauce (that I didn't make last week)
Post Thurs blogs before bed


Thursday

Morning Routine
Clean Kitchen
Clean out fridge
Take out trash (trash day tomorrow)
Garden Work
Chicken Salad sandwiches
Post blogs

Friday

Morning Routine
Bill day
Catch up anything that didn't get done
Pack to leave on trip after school is out
Pizza for dinner (ready to eat before we leave)
Post Blogs

Saturday

Out of town


Sunday

Out of town


To see more weekly menu's please visit Laura @ I'm An Organizing Junkie




For more To-Do Tuesday, visit Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting


And if you'd like to know how my week went, and tell me how your week went as well, please come back to visit me on Saturday night or Sunday for my own first attempt at a carnival. I started it this past Saturday and I am hoping that someone else will join me in this celebration of our weeks.

From To-Do to Ta-Da...The Carnival!

I am going to try hosting my very first carnival! It's called from To-Do, to Ta-Da. The purpose of this carnival is for us to share our progress in the week that has just finished. We do our to-do lists at the beginning of the week, then we can post them on Tuesday (if you like...I do) over at Crazy Adventures in Parenting To Do Tuesday. We work on our lists all week and get all that we can accomplished. Then, Saturday night, or Sunday, we can look back on our weeks together, here.

What have I accomplished? TA-DA!! What should I do differently next week to make my to-do list work better for me? What struggles did I face this week that made progress especially difficult? Any of these issues and any others that you can think of can all be addressed here. This carnival is for you, so you can make your ta-da post in any manner that you choose, whatever works best for you.

The rules are only that you please make a link back here to me and this carnival somewhere in your post. You can use the banner if you like but you are not required to if a picture or something else works better for you. I think we all know how Mr. Linky works...I just hope that it works for me, as this is the first time I'm trying it.

Here is my finished to-do list for the week:



Monday

Morning routine
Weekly shopping trip
Pictures of thrifting for blog
pickup free Redbox movie
clean laundry room
Call Jess to confirm hair appt.
check ironing
Picture project pictures and blog post
Spaghetti for supper
blog posts before bed

Mon-I had to put off the trip to town until tomorrow or Wednesday. My brother in law is going to have gall bladder surgery and they have given me their youngest to watch. That makes two four year olds in the house! I might not get as much done the next couple of days, but it should make for some great pictures of Abby and her cousin.


Tuesday

Ask J to Return Redbox movie
Morning routine
Baked Potatoes in Crock Pot for tonight's supper

Prep Day with pictures for blogging

• Mixes


• Muffins


• Cookies

Hair appointment
Garden work
Shake and Bake Chicken for supper
Reunion calls made
Post Wed blogs before bed

Tuesday was a bit hectic as well, but I got to town to pick up the groceries we needed (from Monday). I didn't make it into the garden, but knew I could spend a bit longer there on Thursday or Friday to make up for it. I planned on making those reunion calls Wednesday or Thursday evening, but never got that done either. That will be re-listed for next week.

Wednesday

Morning routine
Extra Blog work
WHS site work
reunion tasks
Clean Bathroom
Clean Living Room
Garden work
Waffles and Bacon for supper
Post Thurs blogs before bed

Wednesday again was hectic. I did get a tiny portion of my computer work done on my WHS website and spent some time learning how to do a new skill for future use on another website that's in the works. I didn't get my Thur/Fri blog posts done as I'd intended, which made me postpone those blog ideas for next week. I did get the pictures for those entries done on Thursday though.

Thursday

Morning Routine
Laundry Catch up day
Clean Kitchen
Clean out fridge
Take out trash (trash day tomorrow)
Work on proposals and Resume
Clean Office
Garden Work
Chicken Fettuccini w/Alfredo Sauce
Post blogs

Thursday I ended up going back to town again to run an errand for my husband. I got the errands that I missed earlier in the week and picked up some of my garden needs. I'm still behind on my laundry even now, but that's something I can work on tomorrow after church. My office is still a disaster area and I made it worse this week. I plan on making that a tackle this week, though the pictures may make a person shudder...it's getting bad! When I was in town Thursday I found a manager's special on steaks, so instead of the chicken fettuccini, I grilled steaks for dinner.

Friday

Morning Routine
Bill day
make dr appt for Abby(didn't get this done last week)
Catch up anything that didn't get done
Pizza for dinner
Post Blogs

Friday I finally got in the garden. My son Dillon helped and we got the vegetable plot ready to plant. Tilled and mixed in compost.

Saturday

Morning Routine
Gardening all day (J can help today hopefully)
Church clothes for tomorrow?
Grilled burgers and dogs for supper

Saturday was great. I finished the flowerbeds in the front and side gardens. The only flower beds I have left to do is my big shrub/azalea garden. I'm making some modifications there and I did do a little bit in that bed today as well.

That is my week in a nutshell. I have several things that will need to be re-listed next week. I didn't finish my blogwork the way I thought I could and I see that I need to re-evaluate the way I'm working on posts so that I don't keep falling behind on the ones that I plan on writing.

Now it's your turn!

Wordless Wednesday-Picture from my childhood

As you know, I've just finished that huge picture project. This is a picture of me and my younger brother acting silly, some thirty years ago. My brother would kill me if he knew I put this "blackmail" picture up on the internet...so shhhh, don't tell him!

To see more Wordless Wednesday pictures

Prep Day

About once every two or three weeks, I try to have a prep day. I'd like to say that I have a prep day EVERY week, but that just doesn't seem to happen. Prep Day is a day when I go through my pantry and look at the mixes that I keep (homeade shake and bake, biscuit mix, cornbread mixes, rice mixes, seasoning mixes, etc) and see if there is anything I am low on.

I also spend that time in the kitchen making baked goods of doubled or tripled recipes. We can eat from this days baking and also freeze some for next week.

It's also a good time to work on things that slow cook. Or I will put together meals for the freezer, a couple of lasagna's or chicken cacciatore's.

I try to time my prep days for a day after grocery shopping. That way if I find a good sale on something like chicken quarters I can process them on my prep day. It's also a good time for chopping vegetables and getting things ready to make mealtimes easier.

This week I baked three batches of orange muffins and two doubled recipe batches of chocolate chip cookies (without the chocolate chips...I know, it's weird but husband and daughter don't like chocolate but love the cookie part, so I do it that way once in a while for them.)

I also put together my mixes that I was short on. I made a large jar of homeade Shake and Bake (which will do us about three or four times), my regular house seasoning mix (two parts salt, one part garlic powder, one part black pepper) I just put that together in a shaker and use it very often as I'm cooking.

This whole process took up just a small portion of my day and I enjoyed listening to one of my favorite radio programs while I worked.

I intended to have pictures of this for you, since I finally got my camera back this weekend, but NOT having batteries for it DOESN'T work for me. So I'll just do that next time.

What DOES work for me though, is having these things done and ready when I need them by spending a few minutes in the kitchen once every couple of weeks. What works for you?

To see what works for other people on the blogosphere please check out We Are That Family for more Works For Me Wednesday.

Weigh In Wednesday 4/22/09

I had been blogging about trying to lose weight over on another blog for the last few weeks, but they have now lost their weight and discontinued their carnival. Well, I've decided that I need to really get serious about this weight loss, especially with my high school reunion coming up in two months!

I've been looking at a lot of pictures lately, putting together family photo albums and other photo projects and the entire process has made me feel just sick over my weight. While I never like the way I look, the pictures of me two years ago and earlier I can at least tolerate. In current pictures, I feel like I don't even look like the same person. I don't like how I look in pictures or the mirror. It's time to stop avoiding mirrors and making sure I'm the one taking the pictures. I need to lose the weight so I'm comfortable being INSIDE the pictures with my kids.

So I'm starting this week to make blog entries on my own. I may turn it into a carnival, if anyone is interested in participating, let me know in the comments, and I'll make it a carnival so you can link up your own weight loss posts.

Like they did at Happy to Be at Home, I'll discuss each week how I did in particular areas. For my list, I'll discuss food (choices, calorie consumption, etc.), water, exercise successes, failures and of course what the scale says. I'll also discuss how I feel about it. Maybe the accountability each week might help to keep me on course, like it does with my weekly plan. I hope that if you have a few pounds to lose, that you might join me too.

This week's Notes:

Food: One word, Circus. Another couple words, Birthday party...need I say more? I'll do better next week. On the regular day to day eating though, I did fine. I've been eating a big salad at dinner and then eating whatever we had for lunch the next day when there's more time to burn it.

Water: I need to drink more water next week.

Exercise: Not much. This week I'm going to try to get in a walk after Jason gets home from work.

Successes: The fact that it's even in my mind (on daily eating) is a success I think. Especially since I haven't had any success yet. When I weighed this morning I'm the same weight. It seems like I stay the same weight no matter how many salads I eat.


Failures: The circus. I scarfed alot of popcorn and that stuff isn't airpopped. The birthday party I had one small slice of cake and no ice cream...which is about right I think.

Weight Change: Exactly the same, no more or less.

How did you do this week? Let me know in the comments. And if you want a Mr. Linky to blog about weight loss with me, let me know that too.

Shelby

Over the last few Grati-Tuesday's I've been introducing my children. This week I'd like to talk about my daughter Shelby and why I'm so grateful to have her in my life.

Shelby is my middle child from my first marriage. From my first marriage I have three children a boy, 15, Shelby, who is 14, and a boy 11. My husband has two daughters (my stepdaughters) 14 and 9 and he and I have together our last child, Abigail who just turned four.

Shelby is beautiful on the inside and out. She is smart, funny, talented and she has true compassion for others. You may have heard me talk about how smart she is before, when I blogged about her winning the essay contest, but she also has the good common sense which is so hard to find in a teenager. I don't worry about her making so many of the mistakes that some of her friends might. And she doesn't follow the crowd. She will lead, or make her own path, but she is not a follower. That fact alone makes me tremendously proud of her.

Shelby is funny. If you walk into a room and Shelby is there, you won't have any trouble spotting her. She's the one rolling with laughter or looking at you with a big contagious grin. Even her eyes smile when she's talking to you.

Shelby is talented. She has a beautiful singing voice. For the last two years she's gone on a choir trip to Dallas to sing. She's also a gymnast, a good dancer and a cheerleader.

Shelby is the one in the front row, on the left.

The thing that I have been most proud of Shelby for though, during all these years, is her compassion.

There are many examples of her compassion, but I will give you just one. In second grade there was a girl who all the other girls in her class avoided. Her teacher, Mrs. Hogan, told me that Shelby was extremely popular with the other children in her class and when times came to pick a partner for something, Shelby usually had her choice of partners who wanted to work with her. But Shelby would always look to the lonely girl, and make sure she had a partner or be her partner herself. She watched out for this girl on the playground and would not let other's be mean to her in her presence. We were invited to this child's birthday party, as all the children in class were. Only Shelby and one other child attended. The girl's mother was obviously worried about her daughter's feelings. I talked with her during the party in her kitchen and she discussed how she worried about how her daughter wasn't fitting in with the other children. She told me, however, that she was so glad that we had come. Her daughter had told her all through the year about Shelby's many kindness' and as long as Shelby came, she thought her daughter was going to have a good birthday. And they did. Even though there were only three girls at this birthday, it was a great party with lots of giggling.

Of all the things that make Shelby wonderful and beautiful, smart and talented, it is her compassion that makes me so proud that sometimes I feel I could just burst.

So on this Grati-Tuesday, as every day, I am thankful for all my children and their wonderful qualities. They each have unique gifts and they all make me proud. But today I would like to recognize Shelby and her wonderful compassion.

To see what other's are recognizing this Grati-Tuesday, please visit Heavenly Homemakers

Finally finishing the Photo Project

I started a photo project about a MONTH ago. I thought, no big deal, I will sort all my photo's and scan them all into my computer to make digital photo albums to share with family and then sort them by type and year and put them in albums or scrapbooks. Phewww...sounds like quite a chunk right? HELLO...I didn't even have a CLUE! I have worked on this project days on end for over a month and actually there is still more that I could do at this point, but I'm going to call it done!

I started with a full table of pictures which I sorted into tubs that I could put away and pull out to work on one tub at a time.

Then I scanned each tub of pictures until they were all scanned. When I finished putting them all into my computer I made some digital albums on Photobucket for my family.

For my side of the family:

For my husband's side of the family:

And I used the pictures to make slideshows on my high school reunion website also.

There are more, but if I add any others it will probably overwhelm you too!


Then I used a few of the pictures to make photo presentations, like this one of my father
And then finally, I sorted the pictures into dated order and put them into leather albums like this:
Yes, that baby on the cover is me.

It was a lot of hard work but now I can enjoy my pictures here in my home at my leisure and I can easily share them with friends and family.

So here's to finally finishing the photo project.

If you'd like to see what projects others in the blogosphere are tackling today, please visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Now, I guess I'm off to take more pictures!

Simple Woman's Daybook 4/20/2009

For Today...April 20, 2009

Outside my window...59 Degrees, sunny and birds are singing.

I am thinking...About how excited I am to try a new carnival.

I am thankful for...so many things. I was very happy that my mother and brother joined us for the circus and Abby's birthday party this week though.

From the kitchen...A mess. I need to get started in there.

I am wearing...old navy tshirt and capri jeans

I am hoping...that a business venture will work out.

I am creating...many things this week, my focus is getting the garden back on schedule. With all the snow and rains we're off schedule

I am hearing...Birds singing outside

Around the house...lots to do today. I had scheduled today as a shopping day, but things have shifted and I was delayed until it's now close to noon, so I will try to get some of the things on tomorrow's list and move the shopping until then.

One of my favorite things...Springtime blooms and well maintained gardens

A few plans for the rest of the week...I am so busy this week. I'm already off schedule and it's only Monday. I hope that I can pull things back into order. Here is my full schedule for the week.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...My son got a new webcam for his schoolwork and it has pretty amazing effects. This shows one of the effects that it does. This is a picture of Abby taken after her birthday party.




For more Simple Woman's Journals please visit my friend Peggy at Simple Woman's Daybook

Singing without Blinders

As I've been going through my home getting the spring cleaning done the past few weeks, I've noticed something. In each room there has been some area that is neglected that I don't seem to see. It is as if I have blinders on, and do not see the clutter, the fingerprints or whatever the issue may be apparently because I am used to it. It looks as though I've been ignoring some issues instead of dealing with them.

For instance, our mud room is at the back of our house. It's an extremely small space, just a narrow room with washer and dryer and a few shelves that I've put in there to hold the overflow from our pantry. There is the backdoor and one small window. This past week as I was finishing up some of my cleaning, I tried to walk through my house several times a day with fresh eyes. Many experts suggest that we walk through our house "like a realtor". If you were going to buy this house, or if you were a guest in it, what things would you notice?

In our mudroom, I immediately noticed the stack of coats on my washer. As we come into the house from the backdoor, we hang up our jackets on hooks in our mudroom. The problem is that there are only three hooks, but there are alot of us. So when all the hooks are used, we tend to just throw our jackets and coats on top of the washer, so they are handy when we go out again.
The remedy for this problem was so simple, inexpensive and took maybe five minutes, but because I've had on my blinders for so long, it's just one of a million tiny little things that I haven't dealt with. I put "coathooks" on my list that I have been carrying around the house with me and the next time I went to town last week, I picked up a couple. I installed them within minutes and now, lo and behold, I don't have to move the jackets to do laundry and our mudroom looks ever so much neater.

Isn't it amazing how such a simple thing as coathooks can be ignored for so long? And that's just one example.

What little things have you been letting slide around your house? Take the blinders off, take a look around and be sure to let me know what you notice.

To see how others are making their homes sing this Monday, check out MomstheWord.

Weekly Plan and Menu's 4/20-4/28

Last week my baby, Abigail turned four. Boo-hoo, my baby is growing up too fast! We had a great party though. My mom and brother came up from Oklahoma and we took all the kids to the circus. We then came straight home from that and got ready for a few more friends who were coming over to join us for hamburgers and hotdogs. Thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to grill outside for that. I brought out her birthday cake and she loved it when we sang happy birthday to her. Abby had decided on Friday that she wanted to change from a Spongebob cake to a "pink heart cake with purple on it". That was easier so I went with it!

With all the snow and rain we've been having lately, I'm a little behind on my gardening. I looked up the weather and it looks like it's going to be a great week for sunshiny gardening! So hopefully this week I can catch up a little bit in this area. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll have pictures on Friday for my gardening blog entry. My camera has been in Oklahoma for a couple of weeks (in case you didn't notice the lack of pictures) but thankfully my mom brought it back to me yesterday so I'll be able to blog more about things that we need pictures of.

It looks like it will be a busy week. I keep thinking that one of these weeks will slow down a little, but it seems like there is always a lot to do that needs to be done as soon as possible. So here is the schedule for the week. To-do items in black, dinner/menu items in red.



Monday

Morning routine
Weekly shopping trip
Pictures of thrifting for blog
pickup free Redbox movie
clean laundry room
Call Jess to confirm hair appt.
check ironing
Picture project pictures and blog post
Spaghetti for supper
blog posts before bed

Mon-I had to put off the trip to town until tomorrow or Wednesday. My brother in law is going to have gall bladder surgery and they have given me their youngest to watch. That makes two four year olds in the house! I might not get as much done the next couple of days, but it should make for some great pictures of Abby and her cousin.


Tuesday

Ask J to Return Redbox movie
Morning routine
Baked Potatoes in Crock Pot for tonight's supper

Prep Day with pictures for blogging

• Mixes


• Muffins


• Cookies

Hair appointment
Garden work
Shake and Bake Chicken for supper
Reunion calls made
Post Wed blogs before bed

Tue- Today was a bit hectic as well, but I got to town to pick up the groceries we needed (from yesterday). I didn't make it into the garden, but I guess I can spend a bit longer there on Friday to make up for it and I'll plan on making those reunion calls Wednesday or Thursday evening.

Wednesday

Morning routine
Extra Blog work
WHS site work
reunion tasks
Clean Bathroom
Clean Living Room
Garden work
Waffles and Bacon for supper
Post Thurs blogs before bed


Thursday

Morning Routine
Laundry Catch up day
Clean Kitchen
Clean out fridge
Take out trash (trash day tomorrow)
Work on proposals and Resume
Clean Office
Garden Work
Chicken Fettuccini w/Alfredo Sauce
Post blogs

Friday

Morning Routine
Bill day
make dr appt for Abby(didn't get this done last week)
Catch up anything that didn't get done
Pizza for dinner
Post Blogs

Saturday

Morning Routine
Gardening all day (J can help today hopefully)
Church clothes for tomorrow?
Grilled burgers and dogs for supper



Sunday

Morning Routine
Church
Get papers
Clip and Organize coupons
Work deals for Mon shopping
plan menu's/to do's for next week
YoYo dinner (Your On Your Own)
Get rested and get ready to go again next week!


To see more weekly menu's please visit Laura @ I'm An Organizing Junkie




For more To-Do Tuesday, visit Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting


And if you'd like to know how my week went, and tell me how your week went as well, please come back to visit me on Saturday night or Sunday for my own first attempt at a carnival. It will be a look at how we did in our week. A report of progress we made, things we might need to modify and just overall accountability...

The Simple Woman's Journal 4/13/2009

For Today...April 13, 2009

Outside my window...Overcast and cold. I'm so ready for spring.

I am thinking... of the things I need to get done today and the rest of the week.

I am thankful for...good friends and family.

From the kitchen...nothing yet.

I am wearing...cowboys tshirt and pajama pants.

I am reading...nothing right now

I am hoping...that things on the job front will look up soon.

I am creating...I'm putting up a shelf in my daughters room for stuffed animals.

I am hearing...birds sing outside.

Around the house...I'm getting ready for grocery/errand day.

One of my favorite things...when everything is done and you "find" spare time to sit and talk to a friend, or snuggle up with a child and nothing is pressing

A few plans for the rest of the week...I need this week to get back into the groove. We've had spring breaks and holidays and illness...our routine is all off.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...I have been going through old pictures, scanning them into my computer and making photo albums with them. The goal being that I have no more "loose" pictures in my home. Here is a picture from that project. It's me as a baby.



For more posts like this, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook