More Bargains

It's been a busy week.  We have been remodeling one of our upstairs bathrooms and it's been a nightly event, getting to bed past midnight.  It's coming along, but not quite ready to post pictures, yet.  When I asked my husband how long a project he thought it would be, he said three days.  Well, we are on week three, now, the way it goes with house projects, they always take longer than anticipated.
 I didn't get to post my last weeks yard sale finds and here it is almost time to go, again.  In fact, tomorrow I'll be going with my daughter, Christy, and taking 6 children with us.  Plus, it's cold, again, the weather teased us making us think warm weather was here to stay and then it laughed and pulled a fast one with wind, rain, and cold.  There is no rain predicted for tomorrow, though, so I will venture out and look for the bargains, spending time with my daughter and grandchildren.  Here are some pictures of last weeks finds.  Great deals, nothing over $2.00 except for my favorite find which I didn't get a picture of, a rice cooker for $7.00.  I've already used it and love how moist the rice turned out and it's so easy to use.

A Big Family Birthday Party

My husband, Chuck, turned 56, yesterday, and he was blessed with all his children and grandchildren celebrating it with him, along with his mom, sister and in-laws.  When you get that many together, there were 37 of us, 19 of them children, you have quite a party.  We had mexican food, enchiladas, spanish rice, refried beans, salad and lots of desserts.  I had planned on good weather, the day before was actually a warm day, but wouldn't you know it, the sky turned dark and cloudy, wind came up and then came the rain!  A jump house was planned for the kids for outside play, so of course with rain that didn't happen.  So, 19 children had to find fun in the house.  Which they did with my dress up box, cupboard of toys and our open hall way that they turned into a running game going from the living room into the hallway and back again in a circle, laughing and having the best time.  I enjoyed watching them and all the fun they were having.  Our sons kept us laughing with their antics and conversations, they are quite the witty ones.  We ladies watched over the children, served the food,  and enjoyed each others company.  Having a large family is such a blessing and as I sat there and watched them all, I felt very rich, indeed!  

A Productive Weekend

On Saturday, the weather was wonderful and so a great day for yard sailing.  It's been a long winter,  I was so ready for good weather and back to hunting the bargains.  I made a mental list of what I was going to look  for and one was a plate holder for the bare wall in my dining room.  I found it and then started looking for plates to go with it.  I did find a plain green one in the color I was looking for and a smaller one that went well, also.  It's now hanging nicely on that bare wall and looks good.  The bargain price was $2.00 for the plate holder and a $1.00 for each plate. I bought a pretty serving plate for displaying on my hutch, too, I think it was $2.00, also.  Other items on my list was a picture to go in the master bathroom and material to recover the patio swing cushions. Found both, the picture goes well with my colors and I only spent $2.00 on it.  I was very pleased to find enough material for only $5.00 and have already recovered one of the cushions.  I'll have to post a picture of it when I'm finished.  It was a fun Saturday, time spent with my husband and my mother.
Chuck and I also got some weeding done in our garden beds and he spread out compost from our compost pile.  We got in on a sale at Home Depot, one day only, on vegetable and herb plants, buy one and get one free.  I happily loaded the cart with many plants, an addition to the many seedlings growing at home.  I'm anticipating lots of vegetables from my garden this year.  I started an herb garden last year and bought several more herbs for that, too.  It's nice to just walk out in the yard and pick them when I need them.  With our short growing season here in Idaho, I'll have to wait another 4 weeks to plant them outside.  Patience, patience.

Call It Pistachio

We invested in a Vita Mix blender several years ago and with it the family enjoys making smoothies.  I purchase fruit and then we freeze it and then blend.  This blender is very powerful and will blend whole pieces of fruit very quickly.  I like to start out with a frozen banana, add another fruit or two along with plain yogurt, a tablespoon of honey, sometimes a couple of dates for added sweetness.  Then for added nutrition I add a large handful or two of spinach which then turns it this pretty pistachio green color.  Today's smoothie is banana, peach, papaya.  If you choose a darker fruit, like blueberries or raspberries, the green won't be as pretty, but still packed with nutrition. I like to put granola on top of my smoothies for an extra treat.  If the color bothers you, call it pistachio, it helps.

That Time Again

Well, it's that time again, planning the garden.  This shelf is a new addition this year that holds all my pots with the new seedlings and I have it filled to the brim.  My dining room window has the best lighting for the plants and for the shelves that don't reach the window I have fluorescent lighting hooked up.  This is my third year, so I still feel like a beginner, but every year I learn more and more. This year I made the mistake in getting my soil right from my raised beds to start my seedlings and it became to compacted in the containers not retaining moisture and needed frequent watering.  I should have bought potting soil and used that instead as my pepper plants had  low germination success resulting in only 6 pepper plants. The rest of the seeds, tomatoes, beets, basil, radishes, and broccoli did well.  I am trying over with the peppers, hoping for more plants for the garden in May.  Otherwise, I'll have to buy the plants as we like bell peppers.  My dining room will look like this until my planting date around May 15th and then the shelf will become handy in my storage room.  I'll also be planting different types of squash, peas, beans and cucumber, but you sow those seeds outdoors at planting time.  Looking forward to a profitable season of gardening!

Happy 25th Birthday, Katey

Today, our sixth child, Katey, is 25.   She was always such a quiet child, always observing, with her big eyes taking it all in. She was so quiet that I remember taking her and another daughter in the car to go shopping, when we got to the store, I had forgotten she had come along until she hopped out of the car.  She hadn't spoken a word the entire way.  Mistakenly, we thought she was shy, but that turned out not to be the case.  A friend once commented to me that you have to watch those quiet ones as they change around the age of fifteen.  Sure enough, at sixteen, Katey surprised us with a nose piercing.  Her dad made her take it out and heal, but we were surprised all right!  We had a few other surprises that make us laugh now when we reminisce about them, and now are so pleased that Katey came through the teenage years just fine.  Today, she is a beautiful woman of God, so sweet spirited, going to bible school, serving in church.  She's the favorite aunt who's asked to babysit and is wonderful with the children.
Katey, Dad and I are so proud of the woman that you are, God has a wonderful plan for your life and I'm so pleased to get to watch it unfold.
Love, Mom

Celebrating Easter

We had a good time with family celebrating Easter at my daughter, Christy's house.  Her house is on the small side with a wonderful backyard full of kid's toys and equipment for the grandchildren to have a good time.  The weather man had predicted 50 degree weather with clouds which was on the cool side, but it all worked out, the kids had their egg hunt and got warm by all the running and playing that kids do.  The adults caught up on life, ate good food and enjoyed being together.  A happy day, good memories for tomorrow.