Calgon, take me away...

Ever have one of those days when you just want to crawl under the covers and hide? Yesterday was one of those days. NOT a good day at school. So bad that if someone offered me a job at just about anywhere else yesterday, I would have seriously considered it. And to top it off, Derek and I didn't seem to jive too well either. Let's just say there was a serious disturbance in the force. One even Obi Wan Kenobi would run from. So what's a girl to do? Go shopping, of course! And I did find a few nice things. Not a big haul, but just enough retail therapy that I am feeling much better (I think I can even face my students Tuesday!).

I knew before I left home that I wanted to look for something for the flowers in the master bathroom. They had been in a crystal bowl that we've had for, well, since we married 10 years ago (it held a bouquet on the guest book table at our wedding). Its pretty, but being crystal, doesn't hide the fake flower stems very well. I found this urn at Goodwill for $2.50:

Later I went over to the Dollar Tree. I was searching for those little Ballard-like pumpkins that Susie over at Bienvenue... found at her DT. I'd looked at the Dollar Tree in my town last week with no luck, but today I found them at the store in the next town over. They'll look great when I get my autumn decorations out.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a thing at Vendor's Mall. I was looking for a small table for the corner of the dining room (found one that would be perfect, but apparently it wasn't for sale-it was their display table) and for a dining room-type chair for next to the piano. I found a few chairs, but they cost way more than I want to spend. I'll keep looking though. I know the right chair and the right table is out there somewhere!

A thrifting we will go...

I had a pretty good day thrifting this afternoon. While Derek kept the kids at home, I got out for some "mommy time" on my own. My first stop (which is also my new favorite place) was Vendor's Mall. You never know what you'll find at VM! This time, I found this footed milkglass bowl for only $3. It now sits on my bathroom vanity and holds our contact lens cases.

My next stop was the Dollar Tree. I went in search of these pumpkins that Susie over at Bienvenue found at the DT in her neighborhood. The only ones I found at my store were styrofoam. Oh, before you start to feel sorry for me, look what else I found to console myself..
this easel for one of my favorite pictures of the kids:

and this candleholder and candle that sits next to my newest rooster plate.

I got the rooster plate last month at the Bread of Life Cafe in Liberty, Kentucky. We went again yesterday and I picked up this one:

Liberty, Kentucky is situated in some of the most beautiful country about an hour away from us. There is a rather sizeable Amish and Mennonite community there, and we love to shop at a few of their shoppes. This time, we went to Sunny Valley general store, Zimmerman's cheese shop, and an Amish roadside produce stand. We're planning on going back in a couple of weeks, and hopefully we'll bring back some of their beautiful mums, ready for Fall planting.

Blessings...

" These are the children God has given me. God has been good."

Genesis 33:5

Party Time...

Have you heard? There’s a party going on over at the Nester’s place! We’re all joining in to share how we’ve mistreated our windows. A “mistreatment”, in case you don’t know, is an cheap and easy way to dress a window without sewing, measuring, or spending a fortune. As I thought back to my single days, I realized that I’ve been mistreating for years. You can’t imagine how many pairs of curtains and drapes I’ve made out of bed sheets! Even though most of the curtains in my home are actual store-bought curtains, I do have one sort-of mistreatment in Gaven’s room.

These curtains were bought several years ago for the French doors in our dining room. They served us well, but I eventually got tired of them and put them away in the linen closet. When we took Gaven’s crib down, down came the valance that matched his bedding. I went shopping at home and found these:They fit the window perfectly, but the tiebacks were a problem. A couple of the rings were broken and I couldn’t find any cuphooks. So here’s my solution (sorry for not so clear pictures):
The back may not be pretty, but it works!

Breakfast of champions...

For some odd reason, unbeknownst to me, I've been cooking a lot more than usual. Now, normally, I don't enjoy cooking that much. I do like to bake, but everyday cooking is more Derek's thing than mine (he's a great cook!). But this week, I've found myself in the kitchen making things like fried chicken and lasagna. My husband has been especially pleased by this sudden turn of events, although it isn't sure to last, since Monday marks the beginning of school and the end of my summer vacation.

This morning I awoke to discover that we were not only out of all three cereals, but we also had no cinnamon rolls in the fridge either. What is a girl to do? Then the idea hit me...I could make biscuits and gravy. Now, I know some of you out there are are healthy, organic, no fried/processed/laden-with-fat eaters. In that case you're sure to be disappointed with my breakfast choice this morning. However, for me, it isn't just that I really love biscuits and gravy, its that it brings up fond childhood memories.

My grandmother used to make biscuits and gravy for us when we'd come to Kentucky for a visit every summer (we lived in Michigan at the time). I remember tearing each biscuit into little bite sized pieces and smothering it in her sausage gravy. Mmmmm. Imagine my delight when local restaurants started serving b & g, the local Dairy Queen being my favorite. Whenever Derek says he's going to get us breakfast on Saturday mornings, I always hope for DQ.

A few years ago, my mom found something in the store that would change my breakfast-making life forever:
There it is. The mix that DQ uses for their heavenly gravy. And now it can be mine. Whenever I want, even if I sleep past 10:30 (like that ever happens).

So this morning, when a bit of domesticity overtook me, I found myself in the kitchen, pulling out the baking mix and heating up the oven. I actually made biscuits from semi-scratch. Well, at least they didn't come out of a can or were frozen. Here's proof:


Look how pretty they turned out...
Now this is a matter of some excitement for me, since my biscuits usually turn out like rocks.
And here's the finished product...come to mama...

Totally not low-fat, totally not low-carb, and not even close to organic. But totally yummy!

Platter, platter, on the wall...

Well its finally done! I got the idea from a few different blogs. It seems plates on walls are everywhere these days. Being the dish lover that I am, there was no way I could be left out! I had most of them up last weekend, but I had to wait until I got a couple more plate hangers to finish it up. I think it turned out very nice. All but one of them were thrift store/yard sale finds. Its definitely one of the cheapest decorating projects I've done. Now, if I could just get that hardwood down...

Say it isn't so...

Isn't he just the cutest? That's my baby. He'll be 4 in a few weeks. Today I got him registered for preschool. Surely he isn't old enough for school! Now, it isn't as though he'll be far away across town at school while I pine away for him. He'll just be a few doors down from my classroom when school starts, but still! I can't fathom the thought that my baby will be starting school. Sigh. They do grow up too fast.

Yard sale-ing...

Meghann and I went yard sale-ing and thrifting Saturday morning. We had a great time together. We visited a few yard sales, the Goodwill store, our local Vendor's Mall flea market, and even had breakfast out at our favorite breakfast spot, Dairy Queen. I didn't find too many treasures, but I did find a few pieces of Milkglass. And I only spent $7.50.

I found the plate at a yard sale (I sorta wish I 'd gotten the matching, bigger plate to go with it), and the urn at Vendor's Mall.

This compote dish also came from Vendor's Mall.
I'm excited about next weekend. Its the once-a-month antique sale downtown. Maybe I'll find some treasures there!

Tag, you're it...

Shannon over at Bless Our Nest has tagged her readers to list some random things about themseves. So here goes...

Six unimportant things about me:
1. I am the head carpenter in our house. Whenever something has to be built or assembled, I am the one in charge.
2. I hate swimming in lakes. There's just something utterly repulsive about getting into water that has fish swimming around in it. If I were to get nibbled by something, I'd probably totally freak out!
3. My dream car would be a truck just like John Boy Walton's, except that it would be retro-fit with an automatic transmission and air conditioning. If I couldn't have a John Boy truck, I'd drive a Chevy Nomad.
4. I always touch my husband's foot with mine when we go to bed at night.
5. When I'm nervous I wiggle my toes really fast.
6. I'd rather buy things for my house than to buy clothes for me.

Okay-you've been tagged!

Let's Dish...

I have always loved dishes. When Derek and I married, I already had two complete sets of dishes (and I still lived at home with my parents!). These weren't dishes we'd registered for; I'd had purchased them before Derek and I had even met. I knew that sooner or later I'd get married or move out on my own and need them. After we got engaged, we didn't even register for china since I already had a set of my favorite pattern, Blue Willow. We did, however, register for Corellware to use for everyday dishes. If I had my wish, I'd have a room in my house full of place settings and china cabinets!

I especially love old dishes. I've had these since I was a little girl. My mom found them at yard sales and I've had them on display ever since.

This cup and saucer was a gift from my cousin Lori. She got it on a trip she took with her mom (my aunt JoAnn) and my mom when they went to New York a few years ago to visit our other aunt, Frances. Everyone came back with a set and she brought me this one. It reminds me of another one of my favorite patterns, Old Country Roses by Royal Daulton. So when I started noticing plates on the walls of bedrooms on some of my favorite blogs (Nester, Shannon at Bless Our Nest), the wheels started turning. This would look great in my master bedroom, the one with the toile. All I had to do was find some solid white dishes (or some I could paint, a la Kimba). I took off to my newest favorite store, Goodwill. I'm fortunate to have two nearby, plus a couple other thrift stores as well. And after checking at two thrift stores and a Big Lots, here's what I got, all for the whopping price of $4.25:

That one is my favorite one. It was only 50 cents! They'll go up with a couple of larger plates that I already had. I do want a pretty tray for the center, but I haven't found one yet. I'm going yard sale-ing in the morning. Maybe I'll find one then.

The funny thing is, the plate hangers cost me more than the dishes did! I had Derek get them from the hardware store where he works, so we did get a discount. I could have gotten cheaper ones at the dollar store, but Derek's store has white hangers, so they won't show up as much. The only bad thing is that his store doesn't carry the white ones in stock; they had to be ordered, so I'll have to wait until the Tuesday truck comes in a few days. I'll post a picture as soon as I get them all up!

I Drank the Kool-Aid...

Over at Nester's place you're very likely to see lots of tassels. She puts them on everything! She makes all kinds of tassels and they are very beautiful. I finally gave in and bought a couple. They're not nearly as ornate as Nester's, but its a start.

What to do, what to do...

For quite a long time now, I've been thinking about painting our front door. Can you believe it is still the same white that it has been since we moved in nine years ago? White. Boring white. I want to paint it black to match the shutters and to coordinate with the gray siding. I even went on an internet search yesterday to find out the right way to do it. I thought I had it figured out, and mentioned it to Derek. He asked a few guys that he works with about it (he works in the office at a building supply store--handy huh?) and came home with the bad news. It would seem that if I painted our door, it would turn into a huge disaster. See, we have a glass storm door, too, and a lot of heat gets trapped between the two doors. This would inevitably cause the paint to bubble up. Apparently, what is on there now is just builder's primer, therefore, no bubbling. Sigh. I'm stuck with a white door. Oh, I could order a new door. Yeah, that's gonna happen.

Anyone have any ideas about what to do about a boring, white door?

All hands on deck...

After two years of talking about it, Derek and I have finally decided to do something about our deck. It has needed a new coat of stain for a long time, as well as some sprucing up to the furnishings. I couldn't tell you the last time I had a flower out there. So when we got our "G.W. money" as Derek calls it (our economic stimulus check), we put a few dollars into some new stuff, along with plenty of elbow grease.

So far, we've had the deck stained a beautiful Red Oak color, and I spray painted all of my old green chairs black. They finally match the table I bought three years ago! Yesterday we bought a new umbrella and umbrella stand. Our old one was nearly blown away a couple of weeks ago during a storm and couldn't be repaired. The stand had to go because the screw that holds the umbrella in got stuck and no amount of WD-40 could get that bad boy loosened.

We also bought these beauties. They'll be a nice splash of color to an otherwise almost all black deck.

And here's the new fire pit. Assembled by yours truly. I can't wait to roast some marshmallows!

Hopefully tonight we'll get everything in place (I'm waiting for Derek to get home because some of that stuff is pretty heavy). I'll post a picture when its all done!

Happy Independence Day!