Great Yard Sale Finds

It was another great week of yard saling! Brad and I took the girls out Saturday morning to a couple and really got quite a bit of stuff, I was most excited about the Children's Place jeans we got for Alayna, three pairs for $5, can't beat that!

Rachel bought this chalkboard at our local thrift store, Anne's. She was so cute because she asked me if I thought the lady would take less than the $10 she was asking. I laughed out loud and told her to ask the owner, so she did! The lady chuckled and said that she would sell it to her for $8. Rachel was thrilled! I could have bought soooo much more there, but I've been put on a budget:( Boohoo...

I love the tin flowers, they were $1.50 a piece, and they look great sitting on Emma and Alayna's dresser for now. You can also hang them up, which I might do. The bucket wasn't actually for sale, but I asked the lady at the garage sale if she would sell it. She thought about it for a minute and said she'd give it to me for $2. SOLD!! I love it, I put my herb garden in it and set it out on the patio. The baseball bucket I bought for my nephew, as his room has the baseball theme. And last but not least, I found a Mary Higgins Clark Christmas book for .25.

Lots of fun looking for treasures, and I love the fact that the girls favorite thing to play right now is "thrift store", lol!! As always, I'm linking over to Rhoda from Southern Hospitality for Thrifty Monday, make sure to check out everyone's links!!

Lazy Saturday

Ever have those days where you feel like doing this all day??!! I sometimes wish I was a cat, what a great life. You eat, use the litter box, bat around a little toy mouse once in a while, and take lots of naps. Fluffy has come back to her fun, feisty self now since having her babies. I love it:)

Today was a great day of being with family. We had our great friends (who I have done daycare for their kids for 5 years. Yesterday was their last day, as they are moving:( ) over last night for the last "hurrah" if you will. We made venison cheddar brats that we had just gotten back from the meat locker, sweet corn and baby reds from the garden. What a great meal!

Today we decided to go garage saling, I found some great stuff that I will post for Rhoda's Thrifty Finds on Monday. Then this afternoon was mommy/Emma day:) We went shopping, bought her tennis shoes for school, a few tops, and a pair of jeans. All done shopping for her now! After shopping we hit the coffee shop, strawberry smoothie for her, and some delicious Echinacea Elderberry Tea for me. We came home and Alayna and I took a nap while the others went with daddy to help out at Grandma and Grandpa's for awhile. I believe tonight will be family movie night:)

Rooster Party

It's time for Bella Vista's Rooster Party! Basically, just a time for everyone to showcase their love for anything rooster:) I do love roosters, and have a smallish collection, although I just took down my big rooster print, not sure where I am going to put it?

The picture I got free with my hostess credits from Home Interiors about 4 years ago. I love this picture, but was ready for something different on my dining room wall:) The little pic next to it I found at a thrift store for $5. The rooster on the bottom I bought several years ago while up at my dad's, I spent $25. YIKES! Can you imagine paying that much, lol!!??. The little rooster salt and pepper shakers were given to me by my Grandmother, I remember her always using these when we were there for dinners. Love having that history!

So, those are a couple things from my collection, enjoy!

Organizing Thursday

Reading Cheri's post from It's So Very Cheri a few days ago made me start getting excited for Fall. I love Fall, love the trees, the smells, the colors, everything! I can't wait to start making pies and applesauce from our apple trees, taking the girls to different orchards and just enjoying the cool crispness of Fall.

So today, I was lucky enough to only have a few kids in daycare, which allowed me a little time to do some organizing. I made my Fall cleaning list last week, so I can work on it little by little. When the kids have quiet time, I try to get one thing done on my list. well, I'm happy to say that I'm almost done already! Today's task was to clean out and organize our closet. It's a great walk in closet, but it's so packed full that it looks terrible. I got rid of a whole bag of clothes, and got busy rearranging. It looks soooo much better and I *might* be able to find things in there now:) I was able to check several things off my list, which always feels good. On Monday I'll post pics of my kitchen cabinets, I rearranged and added some things, looks great!

My Mom came over yesterday to bring more things from Grandma and Grandpa's house for me. I love that Grandpa knows not to throw anything away, he gives it to me first! She brought some awesome HUGE old coffee jars. not sure what I will do with them yet, but this jar came from Grandma's. I filled it with some old berries, and then found an ornament that I took apart because I like the twine and berries. I think it turned out great. I got the idea from Cheri's post, so make sure and check it out!

Oh, and tomorrow I am taking part in a Rooster party held over at Bella Vista, make sure and check that out too!!

Outdoor Wednesday!

If you head on over to Southern Daydreamer you will find Outdoor Wednesday, how fun to look through every one's pics! I took these photos up at my Dad and Step Mom's last weekend. They have a fabulous yard full of flowers, plants, pretty much anything you could think of. I have a passion of photographing flowers and barns, there is so much beauty and mystery hiding in God's creation. I think I might blow this one up and frame it, beautiful!!

Oatmeal Pancakes

I am linking over to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and Lisa at Blessed With Grace today. Tuesdays in daycare is pancakes day, so today I made oatmeal pancakes. I love these, as they really are good for you, I've made it without the buttermilk, and it still tastes wonderful. I have also added chopped apples, and bananas for something a little different. I love the fact that the kids gobble them up, but don't know that they are healthy, tee-hee!

Oatmeal Pancakes

1 C regular or quick cooking rolled oats

1 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C wheat germ

1/4 C non-fat dry milk powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbl brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups buttermilk

In a bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients. In another bowl combine the remaining ingredients. All at once, add to the moist ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until well blended. Preheat griddle and grease lightly. Add batter, 1/4 cup full at a time, cook until tops are bubbly and flip. Enjoy!!

Porch Makeover

I've been wanting to really give my porch more "umph", but didn't know how to shake it up. I had bought the red bench at a thrift store last year, had the birdhouse laying in the garage, and bought the egg crate at an antique store for $2. So when Brad's family decided to tear down the old barn (which is about 120? years old), my little started turning. However, once I got the stuff home I thought, what in the world will I do with it all??!! I had about 20 little pieces of wood, one long piece, about 10 feet long, and a the beautiful hayloft door that still had the hinges! I put that behind the red bench, added a wire basket that was white (I had the girls paint it black, but not too much) and kept the birdhouse there. I'm not sure if it's going to stay though. I loved how it looked, but still felt like it needed balancing out, too much red. I went down in the basement and found a small laundry style wicker basket that was a light wood. I brushed it with some black paint (which made it look worse, lol), and added pieces from and old swag that I took apart. With some added berries, I think it looked much better, I placed it under the bench.

I really love how it has transformed the look of the porch! I am linking up to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. There are a TON of great redos, and ideas!

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ And don't forget Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality too!http://southernhospitalityblog.com/ and Cheri at "It's So Very Cheri"http://itssoverycheri.blogspot.com/

This weekend we were at my Dad's, it was great to see everyone, and Donna and I got some great deals garage saling! I found a box full of old glass bottles and bowls and things for $2, a small folding camping chair for Alayna for $1, a small lamp (you know my thing with lamps and candlesticks) for $2, some clothes, and my FAVORITE movie ever, "The Family Stone" for $1! It was a very successful run, lol!