Back in the saddle and great finds!

When I read the back of this picture that was 25 cents at a church yard sale this weekend I had to get it. It was the prize for Norma in 1968 at her Sunday School class. So sweet!

Here is the front of the picture with my vintage hobnail bedspread and a bed skirt for my soon to happen master bedroom makeover! I am collecting things to start on that makeover soon.

I thought this frame was cool and I could even get a piece of glass cut for a mirror in this. I am just in love with this vintage crocheted table cloth!!!!I got it for a steal!

50 cents for this vintage Christmas apron! $1.00 for this cute fall table cloth! I was in heaven!

These pillow cases are not finished but the graphics are so cute. 50 cents a piece I couldn't resist! My little guy is doing great from his minor surgery and today is the spring opening for my local thrift shop! I will have to show you my goodies from there soon. It was crazy in there! I think people are catching on to the thrift store goodness. The girls that run it run it like a real store. Staging things and putting things out according to seasons and holidays. The prices are so good. Better than Goodwill! Have a great day!

Back at it Tomorrow!

My youngest is having a minor surgery today so I will be tending to him most of the day and trying to catch up from a very busy weekend of soccer and baseball games. I did go to some fantastic garage sales on Saturday so I will fill you in soon! See ya!

Making Mt. Everest

I homeschool 2 of my kids this year. We make decisions year to year about school. They really like homeschool and really like public school. Next year I will only have a kindergartner and a preschooler. Anyway, I am doing 1st and 3rd grade this year. We usually do science and social studies together in reading or projects. This past week we talked Geography and about Mt. Everest. I found this kit several years ago on clearance at Target and we finally put it together!

I made them keep it in the box til it dried. That white stuff was thick and sticky like concrete! But it was fun and now they know what Mt. Everest is and where it is!

If I go into town and drive by Goodwill I stop. You can go there 10 times and find nothing and then bam! you find things. So I will take 5 minutes and run thru once a week. I have been collecting this particular swirl pattern of Johnson Bro. ironstone and was happy to find more saucers.

This cute little pitcher is really heavy glass and I just imagined it for lemonade this summer.

Ok, I have NO Easter decorations. We color eggs and the Easter bunny comes but I just don't normally put out decorations. But I saw this big ceramic bunny and he was pretty cheap. (Kim K. I thought of you!) So I grabbed him and he is sitting on my table but might move to the mantle this weekend. I am just crossing my fingers that he doesn't lose his ears from a flying ball or a swinging golf club before Easter! Have a great day!

Spring is nice, but I like summer

These are my 2 youngest last summer. I was trying to find some pics of my garden last year and couldn't really find any. I just miss summer. The kids play outside til dark and then chase lightening bugs. It's so green out here because of all the farming around us. Spring in Indiana is wet and usually cold. There are very few days of true lovely spring weather anymore. I love summer.

This was one day haul of veggies last summer in my wagon! And we are doing triple the size this year! I have had smaller years so I am crossing my fingers that all goes well this year.

This was one year that we were out of town and so busy in July that I couldn't do anything in the garden for 2 weeks. Yes, those are tomato plants that I planted too close together that first year. They grew into a hedge! They were taller than me. But I did still get a lot of tomatoes that year. I am hoping to stay on top of it this year with my hired farm hands ( my kids). Have a great day!

Around my house

I forgot to show you this cute picture I got at our thrift store for 50 cents. I know geese aren't the in thing anymore but silhouettes are, so I thought this was cute. And I have 3 girls so I was drawn to it.

This could be nominated for the worst blog picture for 2011. But I didn't have time to upload another so just work with me! About a month ago my husband went out of town and the front hall was looking reallly bad. Think 2 million fingerprints and dings all over everything. So in one day I went to Lowes had them cut all this wood (this was furrow strips used to hang drywall), nailed it up there and painted. My kids thought I had went nuts.

I found this vintage picture at the thrift store for $2.00. I painted the frame black and that's it! It kinda looks like a paint by number but it's not.

Here's around the corner in the front hall. All the wood for this project cost me about $25.00. It was strips used to hang drywall so not the best quality but hey I haven't freaked about the kids riding tricycles into yet. If it was really good wood I might be more freaked about that. We took the bi-fold doors off the closet and hung curtains because the doors got used so much they kept coming off the tracks. Yes that is more of that oops paint. The same color I used in my daughter's room. She liked it so much she asked for it in her room. I got a 5 gallon drum for $34.00 so I had some left over :) Have a great day!

I'm still terrible at before and after pictures

I'm really terrible at taking blog pictures. I have no patience to make things just right. I want it done and ready to move on to the next thing! I need to slow down and do it right. But you won't have to worry about me staging anything. I don't have the patience to make every detail perfect. I have learned to let that go because a person would drive themselves crazy with everything being perfect with 7 kids. It can't happen. Just as soon as you make it perfect someone spills something, breaks something, throws up or something. It's true. I swear.

So, my blog pictures are very generic. I am working on that. But I am always hurrying along to get things done. I love pictures so I will work on it. Pinky swear. Anyway, here is the bed before. I had to prime that thing because it had a little bit of shine to it. But I think it looks much better white.

Madison (my oldest) got home Saturday night at midnight from her trip and ran up the stairs to see her room. She loved it! I was so happy. Then I warned her to mess it up would bring the wrath of MOM after her. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts. Glad I got pictures of it clean anyway.

Here is that cabinet before I painted it white. I know, boring right? But it does look better. One thing I am proud of that this whole makeover was very frugal. My total cost : mirror at goodwill-11.00, blinds-11.50, headboard lamp-9.00, wall paint-(oops paint)6.00, just got a bed skirt at consignment shop-5.00 and a quart of primer-6.00, craigslist bed-30.00 $79.50! All the white paint was left over from other projects so I could count that in the cost but I didn't. Not bad for a room makeover. She still loved her bedding so that saved me a bundle. So on to the next project and back to school today. Have a great day!

The last weekend of spring break activities

I bet not knowing what this picture is looks pretty gross. I am making laundry detergent today. Yes I do tons of laundry everyday. This helps keep costs down. This is the bar soap melting down.

You just grate it up and melt it in some water. Add the other cast of characters, add more water in a 5 gallon bucket and you have cheap per load laundry detergent.

Here is the cast of characters. I am sure you have seen the recipe floating around blogland. I have been making it for about 4 years. If I can get detergent super cheap, I buy it. Otherwise, I make it. So many people ask me how we make it on one modest income with so many kids and with our kids so active in sports. We don't do it perfectly and we are still learning. But, we make choices. No, making your own detergent won't put your kids thru college or pay for travel soccer, but all pennies add up to dollars. It's a bunch of small decisions that can add up to paying for something else. Priorities I guess. And God's hand in all of it. And shopping at garage sales...speaking of...

Garage sale season started here today. It is cooold but the churches usually start off the season and they are held indoors. They are the best because you go to one place for lots of stuff! Went to 2 today and found a box full of white federalist ironstone! My oldest comes home tonight from her trip and will see her room makeover. We are going to enjoy the rest of the weekend with the kids because next week starts 2 million practices and running around crazy. Have a great weekend!