Shopping the Thrifty Way

Raesha had a fabulous idea that after we dropped our kiddos off at church for their activity, we should go hit some yard sales! Sunny and a potential high of 80 degrees provided yard salers everywhere with perfect yard saling weather. Which offered yard saling customers ample opportunity to spend money!!!

A couple weeks ago Reasha kind of chuckled at me when I told her I had a "list" of things I yard sale for...see she's more of a treasure finder and I'm more of a woman on a mission. But you know what happens to my list when I go saling with a treasure finder? :) I end up with loads of treassures I wasn't even looking for! :)

Raesha found a tiny velvet jacket and skirt set that I bought C-bug for only $2. She also found me this corner shelf($1!) which IS on my list:

That's C holding it up where it will go in her room...as soon as we find the drill charger.

Also found: lidless flour canister (above) that I will probably use for a flower pot because I love puns(25 ¢), a nice big stack of golden books($2), science kit ($1), vintage cloth diaper cover to use for a pattern (25 ¢), 2 canvas bags for grocery shopping ($1.50), 2 shadow boxes ($1 each), and 10 eyelet purple doc martens for c ($2). I think that was it LOL. Keep an eye on Raesha's blog, she scored too!

Are you bored yet?

I'm not! ha! I had a friend call today to tell me she was coming over with her little one and a movie, because surely I was as bored as she is. Well, not exactly. But I do have a TON of things to do today, or else I will be crying this weekend!

There's 2 loads of dishes to do, I need clean under roos, toys are strewn everywhere...and I'm going to rip myself away from the computer so I can get it all done...on crutches LOL!

Because all I can do is sit here

I'm a little better today, and can put a wee bit of weight on my ankle, but really only get up if I have to.

I don't know if this happens to you, but whenever I make big plans to do something in my house (especially cleaning or organizing) I either get sick...or in this case sprain my ankle. Since there's nothing I can do...kind of, I am either reading, watching tv, napping, being so thankful that C is still off for spring break (I'd be a wreck w/o her,) or playing more in PS with digital scrapping. It really is addictive and I'm trying to make more elements as I go along.

What I need...

k8tykat tagged me for the google name search thingy (type in your name + "needs") But before I get to that, I'll tell you what I REALLY need! I need to not play volleyball at 5 months pregnant and on my very last day of playing twice a week for the month of April, I need to NOT get agressive in my most favorite front row positions and come slamming down sideways on my bad ankle and spraining it for the 11 hundreth time and go to the ER (which did see me and get me out in 4 hours 'cause I am preggers,) and so on and so forth!!! I'm okay, but I'm mad! I LOVE playing volleyball! And it was my very last day!!!!!! argh!!!!!!

ok, game time. Thanks to A monique being on American idol, I have a lot fo fun ones!

monique needs to get down:::is this like "off her high horse" or is it like a funky jive song? either way, it will have to wait until this ankle is better LOL
monique needs to straighten those girls out because they are loose they need someone to teach them how to be a lady:::I don't know the first thing about being a lady... oh well
monique needs to be fired:::well, hmmm, what are we talking about here?
monique needs to start taking responsibility for her own actions instead of blaming others and pointing her fingers:::It really was M.G.'s random hit in my direction that caused me to be in an agressive position, rather than the regular set up position that M.G. prefers. LOL sort of... I did say it to hubs though
monique needs no introduction:::of course
monique needs to lighten that mouth of hers:::another of course
monique needs to go to the hospital::: been there, done that
monique needs a midwife:::ironically, this is actually part of a review of a book I am reading called "Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years With a Midwife in Mali" I am LOVING it for so many reasons, and though I am appalled and never inspired by African politics in general, I am considering giving wee babe the middle name of Mali (Because I love Molly, but I'm a sucker for the odd names)
monique needs to get a life and work on her self esteem:::ha ha ha ha ha ha me? ha ha ha ha
monique needs to go to Charm School and not run one:::duh! LOL

Ok, so I would normally make a list here of tagged people, BUT from reading their blogs they are either already tagged, just had a baby, taking care of kiddos with the flu, spending valuable time on etsy, and many other number of things. Soooooo if you read this and want to do it, and you ever comment on my blog, then I'm sure I'll read it, 'cause I'm just going to be sitting her for a few days with my stupid fat ankle propped up! :)

I'm a digi-girl, in a digi-world...maybe

My first atempt at digital scrapping after seeing k8tykat's wonderful page! I hadn't bought any digital scrap tools yet so I made my own elements for the page (with the exception of the floral design in the left corner.) It was very time consuming to create my own buttons and ribbons and such, BUT I saved every one of them, so I imagine it will be much faster next time.

In fact I decided to try another before I even finished this post.

Now to go try out the ones I ended up buying ;)

Freezer Paper Maternity...oh so cozy and stylin'!

For a Friend

Happy Earth Day - be a good earth neighbor!

Back a day early - we took a side trip to take the kids to a National Historical Park - usually we go to a great Earth Day celebration downtown - but we didn't - so I made a hummingbird feeder from things in my recycling bin ( juice bottle, cheese tub, bits from a broken feeder, and t's oxygen tubing from his pnuemonia last year! - I hope it works! It cost me nothing to make!!! - talk to you soon

My to do list

I'm going to Durango, CO for a few days with my kids. Hubs is staying here to work on a script and a documentary. We're going with my sista and her kids and staying with my grandparents. My grandma is uber crafty and actually has more hobbies/skills than I do! Here's some things on my list

1. Make something for brand new Molly
2. Finish using up yellow chenile by crocheting another washcloth (might need to bring more yarn. I find crocheting washcloths to be relaxing and productive.
3. Maybe make a ring? My grandma is a silversmith and I have no patience for it...it requires to much delicacy...maybe she can help me.
4. Take the kids to this really cool pool!
5. TRY to wake up before the kids one morning to enjoy a cup of tea and toast.
6. THRIFT at one of the best thriftstores anywhere.
7. hike around the lake
8. Visit the Strater Hotel's open house (120 years old!)
9. Stay up late with my sista
10. Go with the flow

Be a Good Neighbor!

African Kelli is headed to Mozambique. She is putting together a neat little but important service project! Go take a look and see if you can help. I'm going to try to get my cousin to translate some phrases into Portuguese for the cards.

What we found

We didn't find too many big treasures. Just a little something for everyone. B got this cute 3 piece Gap dress for $4. It's a bit Alice in Wonderlandish :) So cute on her!

I picked up an Alfed Meakin plate that I'm going to DESTROY! Muhahahaha! I've got a specific project in mind and my thrift partner sister was a bit bugged that I would be altering this neat-o plate. You'll see :)

And Debwon the charm give away! I've got to rush and make dinner right now, so I'll send an email later :)

Second Hand Saturday

I used to do a thing called second hand saturday on my old blog. Well today we are going out to do it again. Even though yesterday was sooo rainy, today is a bit brighter so maybe we'll find some yard sales???

And are you like me? Do you wake up in the morning and hope, hope, HOPE that your kids or roomies, or the first person you see is going to be in a good mood so you can be in a good mood too? Fortuantely that's what is going on so far here. This is Miss B dressing up in second hand clothes (from the lovely Miss S.) She's got a couple of shirts on and a pair of pants 2 sizes too big! What a nut!

Hopefully I'll have a juicy scond hand update for you later :)

So to my thinking bloggers...

Well, I'm not saying this to be polite, but I have to reciprocate to Lain. Her blog is part knitting, part scrapping, part thoughts, and part book review...how else can one provoke thought!?

The War According to Me is actually written by Raesha's brother. I don't read it regularly, but instead do a catch up read of a zillion posts. I have to be in the right mood mentally to read about the war. I started off a supporter, became a skeptic, love our troops and their families for doing so much, and in the end seriously worry about the world because of politicians and business "men" every where.

Jenny Vorwaller I mean, c'mon! The girl and her family ups and moves to South America from Virginia! I probably think about her once a week, everytime I think about moving my life elsewhere, trying to figure out why she did it and how she did it. She has an elegant and classical style that carries into her jewelry making, decorating, wardrobe and over all style.

Andrea and her Super Hero Journal Lately there's a lot about her sweet new little boy, but really do some reading and you find a soulful, insightful, wise woman. A lot of valuable lessons I have learned from reading her blog, mondo beyondo list for one ;) She's a life coach by the way and once worked for SARK.

And a photoblogger I am completely intimidated by and she doesn't even realize how good she is! (I don't think) Amy Coffey I think we have the same passion, but she seems to have more time and a more willing child then my little B. Her work challenges me to think abnout what I am doing and how I go about doing it.

Now the rest of you just inspire or intimidate me....no thinking involved ;)

Rainy Day

It's a beautifully gloomy rainy day...my favorite kind...so I am essentially shooting these pics in the dark. You'll have to pardon the graininess, as adjustments to shoot during this lovely rainy day mean loadsa grain :)

I've been trying to get a post done for a couple of days (STILL TIME TO ENTER THE GIVE AWAY) but have yet to finish any projects to post about...and you guys just dont love me unless I post pretty things (or give something away lol)

Here's two pics of things I received lately. A wonderful bag from Dawn's blog birthday give away (filled with all kinds of goodies!!!) And a nice stack of some of my favorite mags from Raesha! I have been resisting the urge to buy magazines right now because of all the stuff going on...a bit too extravagant ha ha! (some great things happened though this week!)

A couple weeks ago I made this bank for my kids to save all the random loose change around the house. They think that if they save enough they will be able to go to Disneyland ;) And some chenille yarn I used for a crocheted wash cloth for part of my girl's game night gift that Raesha went home with...it's like sunshine

And I AM working on things... Creating Random Art Pieces or C.R.A.P. as I call it (my own personal revolution agains W.I.P.) heh heh. So a picture of my cluttered table. And a pile of SWEET clementine oranges (only $4 for a bag of 20+ Jess! sorry) These are as good as candy at our house right now! I have to severely limit T-man's intake!

I need to do another post today. Lain gave me a thinking blogger award for my photo blog with very nice comments, so I've got to come up with a list too!

A Charmed Life (a give away!)

I've been busy in the studio making these little charm pendants. It's been theraputic for my tired body to be able to whip them out in a matter of minutes...some instant satisfaction.

I am making them in hopes that the wearers will be inspired or uplifted by them...hence the "charmed life" title. I had to wear mine today, as we had yet another thing happen! You can read about it here.

It's all pretty laughable now, but a headache when it happened. We also had some great things happen for us this week, so I am trying to focus on that. This week I have girl's game night, maybe a movie??? and at least one out of town trip planned. Happy things to look forward to.

P.S. I picked up the milk glass flower bead from Hobby Lobby. You get 12 for $2 and they have other colors and designs!

P.P.S I have one to give away!!!! Post a comment here to be entered into the drawing. I'll be drawing a name for the next post!

April Showers

I have had so many ups and downs today I might as well be on a roller coaster. Some of it is just these gosh darn sensitve pregnancy hormones (indicating to me there's a girl o nthe way) but what a flippin' annoying day!

UP bagels for breakfast, DOWN 11 yead old with attitude UP cutting some cute thriftstore jeans of bellas into capris DOWN recycling didn't get picked up and I was worried I'd have to take it myself UP they finally showed up DOWN Fed Ex guy shows up...who is sending me something fed ex?! (I hate mail remember) UP It's my and hubs new phones DOWN couldn't resist going to lunch with the kids because I wanted a salad with all the fix'ns sooo bad and feel sooo guilty for eating out so often UP it was yummy DOWN UP DOWN UP ugh! And it hasn't ended yet! I have to finish the post quickly so I can go pick up a dinner left for someone who isn't home by someone else who is at home prego more than me and has a sleepy toddler and this neighbor friend of the person gone refuses to keep it in their fridge! Does that make sense? I'll have to explain what I do for my church sometime...

Good: Hubs got called in to work on another film project tonight, it was 10 degrees cooler, I have a baggie of caramels mmmm, a thunderstorm may be headed this way???, and I'm working on a project for my kids' bedroom (sneak peek above) that I will share when it is completely done.

Sorry for the venting :)

Help me

I can't see any new posts I make to this blog. I know they're here because I see them on bloglines. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Update: I think it was my template...so now I am starting all over with the design...but it will have to wait, kiddos are bugging me for their computer time. Thanks Ali!

The Vintage Girl and The White Spider

My poor Baby B! Her big sister was her age 8 years ago. You wouldn't think kid's clothes could look that outdated in such a short amount of time, but that is what we are finding. So the poor chica has very few hand me downs and even fewer summer clothes of her own. Being frugal, and a bit tight on funds :) I've been making her an item of clothing a week (I'd like to do more, but sewing clothing requires I be in a specific good mood.) Last week it was a pair of pink plaid capris. This week, this long top inspired by this flickr fave and reminding me of old 30's dresses you might see on "Our Gang."

It's funny how many of us treasure those by gone eras...thinking of them as simpler, when really I imagine they were so much more complex for house wives like me. And yet I still want to grab a bit of that simple life for my own:

After years of staring at this fabric on my shelf, I finally got around to making it into a vintage inspired clothepin holder! Some day I'll have a clothesline to go along with it!

And this lovely spider was spotted sitting on my car knitting up the most silky shawl I had ever seen!

OHHH and I wanted to point out some additions to my side bar ---> I have a small list of other places to find me and one of things I do to waste my time. Including browsing my cousin Rob's vintage clothes on ebay. He's got a great little shop in Riverside, CA called Rob's Vintique...way too cool for someone like me ;) He cracks me up! He just started a bike club with his friends. To me it's like watching some alternative college band or a Wes Anderson movie! You have to go over to his ebay shop if you love vintage tops! You should also go over to see one of his models who is a spitting image of Donny Osmond...if Donny was a little LESS country, a little bit MORE Rock 'n' Roll. ;)

What is it about jewelry???

Among my hobbies, if I were to make a list for you to read, I don't think I'd even remember to put jewelry making on my list...so why is it I've been making jewelry so much lately?

In fact, aside from loving some unique pieces like my small things ring that I wear every day since I bought it for my 30th b'day almost 2 years ago, and maybe an occasional fiber necklace, I'm not a jewelry girl. I even turned down a having a diamond engagement ring (too much bling for me lol)

Thinking back on my jewelry experiences, I went a little trendy in the 80's (loved my 14k gold unicorn pendant ha ha!) In the 90's it became more about self expression and symbolism...a crystal, a funky silver mouse bead (I'll have to show you some time), and a pierced nose!

I think what has happened is jewelry has once again evolved...into something a little more than simple self expression...maybe even a vice of sorts, a way to show who I am, what I can do and in return it brings me comfort. That in this difficult time for me, I still know who "me" is.