Thrift store find

On my way back to work today from an appointment, I detoured for a moment into the Central Dallas Ministries Thrift Store. I've seen it several times on my way to and from donating blood, but it was never at a time that they were open or I had time to stop. I wasn't really looking for anything or expecting to find anything, but it never hurts to look.

Well, of course, I did find a treasure. Look at this fun cabinet!! It was a steal and is nice solid wood. It does need a little cleaning up - and will probably get a coat of paint at some point. At the moment it is living in my kitchen and will provide overflow storage for large canisters, pitchers, etc......we'll see if it stays there.

Spring Reading Thing 2010 Wrapup

Being the first day of summer, it is time now for the Spring Reading Thing wrap-up. My original post (here) outlines the few books I had on my list.

I made it through most all my books and then a few more. I'm still working on Why You Say It by Webb Garrison (one of my Book Sneeze reviews). I am still a big fan of Sandra Brown - good thing she is a prolific writer!

The most meaningful book I read this season was the Five Love Languages for Singles by Gary Chapman. I had heard of the original Five Love Languages book, but hadn't ever read it. This had the same determination quiz, but the stories and recommendations were geared towards singles. Taking the quiz reiterated what I've known for a while about what my love languages are and my parents both took the quiz while I had the book at my house. That enabled us to have a good conversation about how our family operates. More communication is always a good thing!

Catching up

So, last weekend I was home for Emily's birthday party. Heather did a great wrap-up post with lots of fun pictures. Rather than duplicate her post, I'll just send you over there.

Heather, Phillip & Emily are moving to Abilene this week. So, after the fun birthday weekend, I headed back to their house to help pack. What I actually did was play with and distract Emily while Heather packed in the mornings and then we packed together while Emily napped in the afternoons. It was fairly exhausting, but I'm so glad that I was able to take the time and do it. I know Heather is feeling much calmer about these last couple of days because she isn't frantically trying to get it all thrown in boxes! Their stuff will be in storage for most of the summer while they stay with my parents before their house is available, so I also brought some stuff back to store temporarily at my house.

Nothing else too exciting going on here.....it's a busy work week coming up.

Memorial Day

I enjoyed a full house over Memorial Day weekend.....we shopped and played all weekend long. Here are some snaps:


E's birthday is coming up this week, so when we went to Toys R Us for some present shopping, she got her crown and "buhv" (balloon).

























Lots of throwing balls and climbing up and down the deck in the back yard. She had so much fun!!























































Grandpa and Emily share a floor picnic snack!

Saturday project

Built a cedar planter today. Still need to get dirt and flowers.

Sunday project #2

Yummmmmy ice cream!

Sunday project #1

Part two.....

Sunday project #1

Part one...

Emily's news

Which means I'm gonna be an aunt again!!! So excited....

Spring Saturday

For the past few weeks, I'd hear about something, mark it in my mental list of things to do and then move on. When I finally started writing all those "somethings" down, they were all happening today! So, I made a list and headed out (after sleeping in, of course!)

1. First on the agenda - early voting at the Civic Center. I'm going to be with my family next weekend and wanted to make sure my vote would make it in.
2. Heights Recreation Center to pick up my 2 free rolls of blue recycling bags from the city (anyone need some? I still had 3 or 4 unopened bags from before!) and buy a box of trash bags.
3. bank
4. local high school band fundraiser garage sale - saw a cute snowman salt/pepper set with a spoon rest. alas, they wanted more for it than I wanted to spend.
5. church youth fundraiser garage sale - score! new end table for $10 (Ethan Allen in great condition!)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. A few Saturdays ago, I scored a Scrabble game (it's our family's newest obsession) at a garage sale for 50 cents. Amazingly, it was only missing 2 letters!! One of my favorite stores, Junkadoodle, usually has a bowl full of Scrabble tiles and tile racks. I went last Sunday and they were completely out of letters! Ugh - apparently someone else came in and literally cleaned them out. The guy told me that Betty Ann was out that weekend stocking up on new stuff and would probably come home with a new stash. So, I called last night to make sure that she had success. A quick trip and 45 cents later (for two letters and one tile rack), my Scrabble game is complete!
7. Leisurely driving through neighborhoods on the hunt for more garage sales. Found a few, but nothing interesting worth bringing home.
8. A stop at Lowe's to try and think about finding some flowers to plant in my front flowerbeds left me completely overwhelmed! So, no plants today. I've sent off a note asking for help from my high school huddle leaders who own a landscaping company in Abilene.
   
9. Last stop was the Cottonwood Art Festival. I have discovered that I really love buying interesting and unique things when I can get them direct from the artisan. Last year I got a funky handblown glass bowl. This year, a fun metal flower sculpture!
   
   
   
   
   

Whew.....and then of course, there are the typical weekend chores....laundry, dishes, etc. I'll sit down to read or watch a movie here in a little bit.....maybe!

Egg basket

Photo of my egg basket find from the weekend.

Aldi

So, I had my first shopping experience at Aldi today. I didn't really know what to expect, but had seen commericials about new stores opening up in North Texas and heard about their great deals. I went in with a decent list - everything needed to make my Aunt Neva's chicken pot pie, plus a few other items.

I've started doing some price comparisons (something my mom and sister have been doing for years) and had comps for Wal-Mart for at least some staple items. Aldi does beat the Wal-Mart price on most everything. The hard part is it is a small store and the selection very limited. Plus it is almost exclusively off-brand. Nothing wrong with that. Just different from the big grocery stores. And they only take cash or debit (non Visa/MC debit). Which since I don't use much cash, would make it necessary to plan ahead.

I found out the cash only thing as I was walking in the store. Good thing my mom taught me how to keep a running tab as I'm shopping to make sure I know what the finally tally will be. Not that I normally do that, but I can. So, I evaluated the amount of cash in my wallet and set out to see how much of my list I could get checked off.

Here was the damage:

1 lb fresh strawberries = 0.99
1 lb bag frozen peas = 0.95
1 lb bag frozen corn = 0.95
quart chicken stock = 1.29
gallon skim milk = 1.79
quart half & half = 1.99
green bell peppers (3) = 1.79
bag yellow onions = 2.69
garlic cloves (3) = 0.89
3 lb frozen boneless chicken breast = 5.49
2 lb carrots = 0.99
4 lb sugar = 1.79
5 lb flour = 1.19
5 lb potatoes = 1.49

Grand total = $24.28

Every.single.thing on my list. Plus, paying with cash made me stick to my list. I *KNOW* I would have spent more at Kroger, because I would have just tossed anything that looked good into my basket.

A couple of other interesting notes....you have to pay a deposit of a quarter to use a basket (they are locked together and you get the quarter back out when you return the basket and lock it back in) and you have to bag your own groceries. You have to bring your own bags or they do have reusable bags for sale or you can pay 0.10 cents each for plastic bags.

Don't know for sure how often I will do my grocery shopping at Aldi. It is on my way home from work, so I might just use it for the quick little runs, but I'm also giving up on the perks of my credit card by paying with cash up front at the store, rather than just paying off the credit card bill in full.

Oh, and before I made it to Aldi this morning? Found a vintage egg basket at an estate sale for $1.50 that I plan to use for those onions in my pantry (been looking for one for a while). Also picked up a Scrabble game for my house (50 cents) and Scrabble Junior for Emily ($1.00) at garage sale. Now each household in my family has a Scrabble game we can whip out anytime!

Bon Jovi

Sunday night I had the privilege to use a couple of my company's tickets to go see Bon Jovi in concert. A co-worker seated next to me brought her big camera and took the following photos. Greatness!!

It was a very fun evening with my friend Beth helping her to celebrate finishing her PhD.

New layout

My sister recently changed the look of her blog....when I asked where she found her design, she directed me to The Cutest Blog on the Block. They have LOTS of really cute layouts and it is SO easy to apply. Check 'em out!

Hand of Fate - book review

Hand of Fate by Lis Wiehl and April Henry

(provided by Thomas Nelson Publishers as a part of Book Sneeze)

When the host of a popular Portland, OR radio talk show is murdered, the Triple Threat Club—a federal prosecutor, an FBI agent, and a journalist—must narrow down the lengthy list of suspects who wanted him dead. Jim Fate, a very outspoken and controversial local radio talk show host, dies suddenly while his show, “The Hand of Fate” is on air. The manner of his death causes widespread panic and chaos as the downtown area is evacuated.

FBI Special Agent Nicole Hedges, crime reporter Cassidy Shaw and federal prosecutor Allison Pierce, three colleagues who are also good friends, team up to piece together the not-so public life of Jim Fate in order to uncover the stunning truth of who killed him—and why.

I was unfamiliar with Lis Wiehl and her stories, but this book will make her one of my regular reads! I was drawn in to the characters and the story very quickly and was completely surprised with the ending – a very good sign for a mystery. The characters were well written and each had depth that was explored and unveiled throughout the book. Twists and turns along the way as the investigation developed kept me turning the pages faster and faster. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

http://www.liswiehlbooks.com/

Sunday afternoon

My mom is an excellent seamstress. She made all kinds of clothes for us when we were young, has made many a curtain, is now into making bibs and high chair pads for miss Emily and still makes herself clothes on occasion.

She taught both of her daughters to sew. #2 daughter seems to have really caught the bug and makes all kinds of fun things. #1 daughter (that's me) struggles to do anything more complex than straight seams. I can do the very basic steps, but I just don't enjoy it all that much. I have started making burp cloths for friends when they are expecting, but really don't have any desire to do much more.

A couple of weekends ago, Heather and Emily came in for a visit. We decided since they were coming without Phillip and could bring his pickup, and my parents were going to be here the very next week, that it was time for Emily's big girl bed to find a home with them. In the past few months she has climbed out of bed a few times, so this way, when they are ready for her to graduate from the crib, she can just put the bed together and be done. This trundle bed was my first out of the crib and was Heather's bed all through growing up. It moved to Dallas with me as my guest sleeping in my apartment and has lived in my office as secondary guest sleeping in my house.

When I first moved to Dallas, mom made me a valance that matched a t-shirt quilt I had made. I lived with that for a while and then decided to redecorate my guest room/office in my apartment. We got overly ambitious with our plans and I made a tab-top denim valance. All I can remember is my fingers about falling off while I tried to sew the buttons on those tabs through what seemed like 87 layers of fabric. It was cute (still is), but was very challenging for me.

When I moved into my house over three years ago, I didn't quite hang the curtain rod high enough and the top of the blinds had been showing through the tab gap. This, of course, was on my never-ending list of things to fix. Never got around to it. Now that my office is no longer a secondary guest room, I decided it was time for a new valance.

While Mom was here last week, we went to JoAnn and found some perfect fabric. Then spent probably 45 minutes trying to write out a "pattern" with measurements for me. Today, I took the plunge to cut, piece and sew the valance. Seems like it took way longer than it probably should have - maybe it didn't. But that 3.5 hours felt like forever. I had issues getting the fabric cut straight and even, but in the end, only lost 1" off the length. I call that a success!!

I can't easily find photos of the previous curtains, so you'll just have to enjoy the new ones!

Spring Reading Thing 2010

It's time again! The Spring Reading Thing challenge, hosted by Katrina of Callapidder Days.

I don't usually have a *real* list -- I just keep you updated as I go along and make a wrap-up list at the end. Not so this time around.

I recently began doing book reviews for Thomas Nelson -- they send me a book, I read it, write a review on my blog and an online retailer and I get to keep the book. It is great fun since I get to choose the books I read and review.

So, here is my list:

currently reading:
Envy by Sandra Brown
Five Love Languages for Singles by Gary Chapman

(library books)
Fat Tuesday by Sandra Brown
The Maze by Catherine Coulter
What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
The Switch by Sandra Brown
Demon Rumm by Sandra Brown

(Book Sneeze review books)
Hand of Fate by Lis Wiehl
Why You Say It by Webb Garrison

Oh Baby!

This morning was our baby shower for my sweet sweet Kelly. It was so fun and easy to plan, decorate and execute! We went with a "vintage modern" style....polka dots, bright colors, and vintage toys/clothes were the thematic ingredients. Good food, friends and fun baby gifts. A great morning!













































































































































And, of course, another burp cloth project! Adrian is a rabid Steelers fan, so I thought it would be fun to include a special set of burp cloths just for him to use.

2010 Snow

Last week my little corner of the world received record breaking snowfall in a single day. I took pictures of snow at my house over the 24 hour period. Couldn't narrow down the photos, so you get them all!!








I posted the video on YouTube as well if the Blogger video isn't working:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wOE0RblA74

My car just turned 32!