Thriftin' Thursday

Last Saturday my friend Sharon planned a little thriftin' Saturday. Four of us girls hit Ephrata and enjoyed bargains and a quiet, relaxing, delicious lunch at Basalts in Ephrata. Here are some of my goodies!!

A bright, fun old fruit cake tin

A 50 cent red bucket!
Several other treasures

What a fun day! Nurturing friendships, shopping for bargains and just hanging out!

February Color

February may not seem like a month with a lot of color, but if you look it is there. I love hiking on our property and I am often amazed at all of the colors in creation. The pictures taken on my most recent hike provide some examples of this color.

Also, I had the fun opportunity to go thrift store shopping in Ephrata over the weekend! And speaking of COLOR, wait till ya see the goodies I found! I will post soon. I am having some trouble getting my most recent pictures on my computer~

Thursday

Thriftin' Thursday is a little different this week. I have in the back of my car a few bags to be donated to a thrift store, the Senior Center this time around. All of us had a few items of clothing in our closets that are ready to be given away and I had a few household things that are ready for a new home. But I did also shop the Senior Center thrift store this week and found several appealing magazines for only 15 cents each. A couple of home decorating and a few cooking magazines. Do you have a favorite magazine that I should be searching for?
Oh and I do have a couple of new thrift store goodies that I will post pictures of this weekend. My friend Marie was kind enough to take my boys yesterday while I had a meeting and ran a couple of errands. The thrift store was my fun stop!

Stresses and JOYS

This is the "good race" handshake.
OUR BOYS!

Our buddy Luke came over to play with Willem on Friday. He is a sweet boy with an evident love for life! Merit working on the valentines for his classmates.

On March 13th, it will have been two years since I was in a car accident that has caused me to experience some rough times. In the two - three months following the accident, I wondered if I would ever feel normal again. I had neck pain, jaw pain and headaches that at times made it very difficult to care for my two little boys. Thankfully, after seeking care - mainly chiropractic care - I am not experiencing anything close to the pain that I was. But this week has been tricky. Insurance issues are arising... I am still seeking treatment, but not nearly as often as I was... I know that this next week will be spent trying to determine a dollar amount for the treatment I intend to seek. The insurance company wants to settle, I pray for wisdom in all of this, it has been a pain in the neck, literally~

I am so thankful, however, that my boys were not injured in this accident. I am also so JOYFUL to report that most days I feel normal. Many prayers have been answered.

Willem's behavior lately has been tough. I was talking to my sister in law Cary about Willem's tough afternoon he had on Thursday. She reminded me that she felt 3 years old was harder than 2 with all four of her girls. I also remember three being really tough with Merit -- and now Merit causes me such little stress. hmmmm I will pray for patience. And remember to enjoy all the good things that come along with three year olds as well.

JOYS

Merit colored a valentine for all 18 students in his class. I found free printable valentines online and each day last week he spent some time coloring them and writing in them. This was so much fun to watch! Then on Friday I was able to be a part of his class valentine party. It was WONDERFUL~~ Those kindergarteners were so entertaining!! What a great way to end the week~

This weekend has been really fun. We've read a lot, played some fun games, got some good outdoor time yesterday... Willem is really enjoying his bike and because we don't have a paved driveway or sidewalks out here, we took the boys bikes to Vance's work where they had room to ride and ride. Willem especially loved it!

For Valentine's Day, Vance got me two large YANKEE candles. They smell wonderful!

Happy Monday

Saturday we had beautiful weather here, it almost felt a little bit like spring! It felt good to get outside, run a little and enjoy the fresh air~ Today it is gray and foggy, the perfect weather to clean out a closet, enjoy a second cup of coffee and work on Valentines with Merit!
My sister Natasha is linked to my blog and she has the CUTEST cards posted! She sells Close to My Heart and is a talented scrapbooker, card maker, among other things. Check out her adorable cards!
HAPPY MONDAY~

Thriftin' Thursday

Organizing... dusting... making the room cozy, uncluttered and inviting... and adding thrift store goodies to warm it up. Let's see if I can keep it that way (!)

Clear glass fun. I decided to shop Goodwill for some clear glass treasures. I loved these shapes. 49 cents each -- you can't beat that. We have a tiny bathroom off of our bedroom. I painted this little Goodwill table several months ago and thought it's current "home" could be that little bathroom with some fun candles and their glass containers.

I am not frequenting the thrift stores as much as I would like, because I am feeling quite busy with other things in my life... but a thrift store bargain is always a treat!! I enjoy the blog Nesting Place and "Nester", a wonderful mom of three boys with a fabulous decorating talent, did a little segment on the Master Bedroom on Monday. She had some great advice. Our master bedroom is usually a mess. It has piles of clothes that need to be folded or folded clothes that need to be put away, it is usally in need of a good dusting and there are a pair or several pairs of my shoes hanging out on the floor in there... anyway, Nester encouraged me to get it together! And thrifty finds helped.

Good Memories, Good times

Some superbowl snacks and brownies with Junior Mints melted on top. My friend Alisa, also a fan of mint :) gave me this yummy recipe. SO easy, a brownie mix and two big boxes of junior mints.

We had a really fun weekend! Friday was a house cleaning day for me and boy did the house need it! Then Friday night we just relaxed. Saturday afternoon my dad, my brothers Matt and Phil and Matt's girlfriend Natasha drove over from Lynden. What a fun group!! Saturday night we went to Michael's on the Lake, we had a delicious dinner with lots of laughs! And Sunday we hung out here. Vance and Matt were glued to the TV with all the superbowl pre-game stuff and then the game, Merit was pretty into it too. My dad made a prime rib roast and we had a yummy dinner before the game. Willem was CRAZY about Natasha. She played for hours in the playroom with him. She loves kids! I was so excited that he warmed up to her so quickly. She is friendly and fun!

Oh, Merit wanted to have a boxing match with Grandpa Jim. He even made a poster that read GRANDPA JIM VS MERIT. Merit hardly left his side.

Me and Natasha

My brothers and me. I love hanging out with these guys!

I had lots of time to relax last weekend, but now it is time to GET BACK TO IT! I have to finish my Substitute's Suitcase Course which, by the way, is giving me the itch to substitute teach again. Also, I told myself that by the end of January I would register for another 10 credits of distance learning courses... but that hasn't happened yet. These are some of the classes I am considering:
Reading Success for all Students - this is geared for K-3rd grade teachers

Boy Writers

A Science Course called Healthy Body - focuses on exercise, good nutrition, hygiene, identification of internal and external body parts

Exploring the Complete Kindergarten and First Grade Classroom

I'll be back for Thriftin' Thursday...

WINTER

Cozy Cabin Memories

Looks like the taco or burrito required mixing the playdough colors. :)

We have done so many fun puzzles this winter.

FROST

I love WINTER. I love the cozy feeling of being indoors with a fire cooking in the wood stove. I love having more time indoors to work on projects, BAKE and cook. There seems to be more time for PLAYDOUGH and puzzles. I love the frost on the trees and the way the snow sparkles. I like sipping a hot vanilla latte. I like to hit the thrift stores once a week and search for bargains. I like crisp winter hikes with my boys and husband.

Right now, the roads are pretty good ... driving conditions aren't stressful. And although I love the snow, we appreciate the good roads for all of those in the transportation business.

So, snow or no snow, I treasure these winter months. Allow yourself the time to relax, to cuddle up with your kids or begin reading a great book... happy winter.