Show and Tell From The Dig

Finally get to my show and tell blog from the Dig! The girls and I went durring spring break and we did not even get to go through everything. The girls had fun for a few minutes but were done within 30 min or less. Mama is a die hard so they went and sat in the van with their MP3s while I kept at it for a bit.

I'm actually splitting my sharing from the Dig (Goodwill Outlet) in two different blogs. Most of it is here, and the t-shirts are over at Creative SAHM as I am using them for making bags.

The Glassware:

I don't usually focus on glass ware there often. However, I was interested in containers for collecting dried flowers, dried citrus and such for potpourri making. I found a few fun things in the process.
A multi purpose jar that Caed can use for the tadpoles from the river, or a fish. He brings in nature all the time so this made a good habitat jar for his adventures.
We spent our Anniversary in Cambria, and it's one of mine and Ricks favorite get aways. So I could not pass up this lovely wine glass that simply stated the town name.
Also while we were away we did one wine tasting (in Templeton actually) at Wild Horse. Our friends had served a Pino Noir from them that was AMAZING, and we had a free tasting coupon so we tried some of their other stuff. However, since our coupon made the tasting free, we did not get a glass. SO, when I spotted this, I got it for our memory time.
Vintage jam jars traditionally used as juice glasses, these were a great find and they can make good flower vases for small flowers too. I also found a few other vases/containers.

These were possibly vintage also. Two of them say juice something or other, and one is a old milk looking one with a cow on it. I wanted them for flowers. The item in the foreground is a melt and pour with a great handle. I want to work with some wax later on for candle making so I grabbed that too.

The Clothing/Shoes:
Emma grabbed these converse. Three of them (one below) were real converse which is a great shoe even when worn a bit. She loves converse so she put some on right away. I had to have her stop in her tracks to take the below picture. Oh, and on a side note from above, I also found this mirror and picnic basket.
It's not every day you get playing card converse shoes....
I found a Levis jean jacket. I've been looking for one for a while.
Levi jeans in great shape. A little small but it will motivate me.

Lots of fun trendy tops for the girls.
Emma found this one herself. Mommy thought it was pretty cool!
This one was for me, loved it.
....and a one size fits all cover up for the beach or pool, just in time!!!

a few tops for mommy.

The Vintage:


This vintage treasure was fun! It was homemade but I still loved it. Saving it for the girls or a smaller me.

This old Fire King bread pan was like nothing I'd ever seen. It had design (shown on the end above) all the way around. It was beautiful. It just needs a really good scrub to get all the burn off. I think it's too pretty to just sit in the cupboard for occasional baking. I intend to use it as a serving dish.


I also grabbed what I think is an old green avon perfume bottle (not sure, just loved it), a tin measuring cup with strawberry design (I'm keeping my seed packets in this on a shelf now), and a old cheese or meat slicer.

wish you could see the pretty design on the bottle, but you can't.

Miscellaneous:

Found a bag full of stretch tops for containers you don't have lids for.
Grabbed this for the glow in the dark stars. I don't know why it was tapped to a doll furniture thing. Caed has wanted some of these and I'm putting it with his birthday stuff.
A cute wine gift cylinder that is just pretty.
Small fish tank. Emma grabbed this for tadpoles or a beta fish. When you have kids who go through small pets, it's good to grab these cheep and just keep them in the shed or something till they get a whim or catch something.
A cute country shelf and a bag with a country welcome set. I found these separate and thought they went great together. I gave this to my friend Michelle because she loves roosters and does more of this theme.

A cute "God Is Good" thermos for Caed's lunches.
Greeting cards. Rick always tells me there are not enough masculine ones for him so these were good.
The girls found some books they wanted.
I loved this! It's a tooth brush hanger for the kids bathroom.
This was a real treasure for us. We needed another umbrella for the porch when it gets hot. We have one out there that had one pole break. I just pinned up that side so it can go against the window of the house and we can still enjoy it. However, we really needed another one because it gets really hot out there. This needs a good wash but it's in great shape still.

Christmas Stuff:

O0ps, sideways. Sorry. This was in a box and I opened the box and saw stained glass. I just grabbed it and thought I'd look at it more before I checked out. I had no idea what it was. I forgot however to check it so when we got home, we had a mystery item! I opened it and was thrilled! It is the most adorable Christmas manger scene!!! It plays "Away in a Manger" and the characters circle the manger. LOVE IT! The kids loved it too and wanted to hold it and watch it. It's going to make a fun memory item for Christmas.

A really nice nutcracker....and a sleigh. I picture this sleigh sitting on a table with a tangled mesh of white/white lights in it and lit up!

SO! That is it (actually there were some nice frames I found, a few games, and other small stuff I did not take pics of. Head over to Creative SAHM later to see the t-shirts we found for bags!

A Royal Lack of the Gooies

Rick and I watched the wedding this evening. It was very pretty and well done. I loved the trees brought in! That was fabulous.

Still, I could not help noticing something. There was no infatuation sparkle. Now, let me explain.

With Diana and Charles, there was nothing. It was beyond just British, it was cold. With Kate and William, they are obviously in love, and I think they are a great match.

Yet, could you not tell that they were familiar? They have been living together for 8 years. They know each other well, which is great, but it made some of the magic missing from this event.

I wanted to see something more than a true love choice here, I wanted to see sparkle! I wanted to see them hardly able to stop looking at each other, holding each other's hand. I wanted to see more gooey stuff.

I'm sure they had it. We all just missed out on it. There was more best friend than adorable longing in this event.

I understand that they all believe testing this out was a better way of doing things. I just personally don't think so. It's one extreme to another. Diana should never have been pressured to marry a man she did not love, or was not loved by. Yet, once love was found for William, I so wish we could have seen them expectantly magical as they anticipated their union. That kiss was lacking! Could you not see him? He was saying "well, should we give them a kiss then? come on, let's give them a kiss." IF this is about letting royalty be with their love, let's see them do it right. If she were not so familiar to him, perhaps he would have been eager enough to at least reach his hands out toward her when kissing her! Is this just a British thing?

Okay, you die-hards can throw your tomatoes at me now. It's just my take on the whole thing.

My Husband Passed The Edward Fantasy Test

Yes, I could be blogging about the wonderful things I'm leaning in 1 John right now. Or, even the photos I have and the telling of the house remodeling we are doing. Nope, I'm hear for an Edward moment, and yes, I do mean Twilight's Edward. So, bite me. (ha,ha,ha, that was good...)

It's just too funny and I don't want to forget it. I think my husband will be amused and pleased when he reads this as well.

After a few years of liking Twilight's books and movies, I've NEVER had a dream about Edward. I've never had a temptation to fantasize of him either or anything from Twilight for that matter. Yes, it's possible to enjoy something w/o having issues. So, last night when I dreampt of Edward I found it ironic that it's taken my subconscious this long to bring him on the scene.

In my dream, we were at a theme park. Not sure which but it was comparable to Disneyland, though the rides were not anything like what is there. Robert Pattinson was there for the day as a visiting celebrety. I was able to seem him approach and Rick was closer to where he was in my dream, so Rick was saying hello to him first. I was nervous and thrilled to actually see him (okay, wouldn't YOU be too!) but even my dream me was much like me in that I hesitated to go up and say hello. I decided this was too good to pass up so I came up to him as he talked with Rick and said some type of hello and that even though I was old (ha, ha, I find this funny too), I still loved Twilight. He was gracious and the dream phased out there like they do.

The next part of this I remember was that he came back to where we were in full Edward costume. My first reaction was complete girlie, stupid, butterflies, infatuation heart attack. He looked good approaching. As he got closer I started to feel nervous because he had an intentional look on his face and kept coming closer and closer to me. Rick was standing next to me.

He came up to me, put his arm around my waist and leaned in to kiss me! Before actually laying one on me though I remember saying, as his face got closer "Your makup looks a lot worse up close"....LOL!!!

He didn't seem to care. He leaned in further and put his thin, cold hard lips on me in the most passion-less kiss I've ever had in a dream, EVER. I could see Rick looking at us from behind him. SO, here is the great part.....

He was still leaning into me, and I was leaning way back, when he stopped and I said:

"You don't kiss near as good as he does!" (turning my gaze to my frozen husband)

OMG.....LOL!!!

I don't remember any more and the dream fell off there, but I just found this soooo funny!

Had to tell.

Ah, good stuff.

I'm sure my husband will be pleased he has my subconscious heart as well.

OH, and those who know me will find this funny too. Later in the dream he was back to his British Pattinson self, and he was enjoying a good conversation with Rick on European history!!!

HAAAA!!!!

Oh, dear.

Don't worry though Edward, this is still my favorite part of all things Twilight, these short few seconds:

Rat Mama- View At Your Own Risk!

Well, the girls went back to school and the baby rats were looking at me from their cage saying "where did everyone go!?" They were use to being toted around all day on one shoulder or another, hearing the noise of the family.
So, I put on my scarf nice and tight because if you don't have a collar shirt, they are a little ouchy, and I packed them on board. Don't worry, I did my kitchen stuff before doing this. The apron stays on me for other housework but I washed it, promise!Spazy likes to give kisses. Cute, but awkward.
When I hold out the camera, they kept thinking I was making them a bridge to some fun place somewhere. They were eventually doing this up both arms and I had to keep calling them back or it was a stupid picture of me.
Don't they make an adorable side fur?
Tickles are pretty heavy when you have both of them at once, something I decided not to do again.

"Oooooo, a bookshelf! If I jump can I make it?"

All in all, I let the girls make up for time from then on out. They are sweet, and yes, I've warmed up to them a ton from where I was before at the pet store declaring "No, no way!" and "Ewww, their tails!!!" I love them, they are sweet and I'm okay with being a rat mama.

My kids don't know how lucky they are that I'm a very embracing person.....

New Year Dreams

I love calling them that. I love dreaming of what may be in the new year. Last year I did this and the Lord had huge medical trial for me by Feb that included surgery and a long recovery. So, I didn't get to dive into my dreams right away or in the manner I wanted. I thought often of the verse about making our plans but God directing our steps.

The thing I love about New Year Dreams is that they are goals, hopes and desires I have but they are secondary to whatever God has for me this year. He may have easier times, challenges, breakdowns, times of want or plenty, life or death. In hope of Him I can keep my joy of anticipation high because as His child, what He has is better for me than anything I can come up with.

But what are my dreams?

• Return to Inductive Study- I enjoyed reading through the bible with the Bible in A Year Blog but I'm anxious to get back into the in depth book study. I really have missed the Who, What, When, Where and How of these. I'll be starting the year with Psalms. The reason I chose this is because frankly, I want to remember the passion of my love for God again. I've been very emotionally numb the last few months. I think sometimes trials can have that effect even though you've grown, you do also grow weary sometimes. I think the Psalms may be a balm to my soul to start out the year and remember my hearts intimate connection to the Creator.


• Continue the Weight Journey- I lost over 20lbs last year! Yeah. I have 20 to go. More than that, I'm loving the exercise and change of lifestyle. Last year I said I wanted us to be more active as a family. We had a few outings and then I went down for a while. I want to continue that with more hikes, trips to local trails, biking and so on. My own personal goals are to go to the gym three to four days depending on gas funds and exercise here on the days I'm just home.


• Coupons- The great coupon bash I did when I started out kept us stocked on many fun things we are still using up. I really look forward to getting back on that wagon and saving a lot in our budget in the new year. My coupon blog "What's The Deal" will start piping again the first week of Jan!


• Gratitude- God is really pushing me to discover true thanks and how it can change everything about me. I've been challenged by the theme verse of this blog to truly test it out. Can I give thanks in ALL things? What is the result if I do? For example, on Christmas Rick accidentally gave a gift to the kids to open that was mine. Now, he and I don't get many gifts (that's okay with us) so I was very hurt he was not sensitive enough to read who's it was first. I went to sulk in the kitchen. The Lord asked me how I can give thanks in this? I was not sure for a moment how I could. Then it came to mind. I can be thankful that my child had some more joy in opening it for me. I could be thankful that my husband was receiving a growing experience in being more careful and sensitive. It was not easy to submit to this conviction but I did. I look forward to doing it more. I think it is the precursor to joy.


• Simplicity/Organization- I love a simple life and I want to collect less and less unimportant stuff. What we do have I want to steward well and finish organizing. One thing I've learned is that it's easier to organize with less than with more! It also leads to a freedom for generosity.


• The Floor- We ripped up the dinning room carpet months ago and it looks like through some gifts we have the money to do most of the new floor! I start more carpet ripping when the kids return to school. We are putting down a textured vinyl tile. Here is a pic of it. It will go through the living area, dinning and kitchen which are all attached anyway. I realize it's a little unconventional to put this in a living room but with the yellow wall we want a Tuscan country look and this will work. I'm hunt later for a brown sectional on Craigslist to complete the Tuscan design and give us more seating. I am really looking forward to the carpet GONE in the living areas and hopefully soon we can start laminate wood in the kids rooms.