June

I just realized it's been nearly a month since I posted. This may have led you to think we have nothing going on. HA! Here's the quick list of what we've been doing:

• I've been painting the girls' bedroom "Flax" and their bathroom "plaster pink" Too Cute!
  
• We spent 3 days at my sister's and went to Shiloh on the way there and the Civil War interpretive center at Corinth on the way back.
• We're looking for homes for kittens. If you live near me and want one, let me know. We have 14 left, and 2 mamas to go, also.
• I'm contemplating having a yard sale. Our location (the sticks) means I'd have to haul it all to my mom's front yard first.
• We're trying to stay cool. Temps yesterday hit 106. We spend lots of time in the little pool in the front yard, and are eating billions of popsicles. The rest of the time we're running around trying to keep critters and plants watered enough.
• The farmers' market is open. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
• We spent a day at some friends' house on the lake, swimming, and giving the girls rides on their sea-doo's. Great fun. We're recovering from the sunburns. Silly- we had to move to go hang out with our friends who used to live across the street from us. Odd to be back in the old neighborhood.
• Reading up on TN egg laws and talking to people at the market made us decide it's not worth it to sell eggs. We'll be butchering some chickens to get our numbers down. Yay! for my freezer! Down with crowing roosters!!
  
• We froze 11 1/2 quarts of green beans a friend gave us last week, and this week I hope to freeze peaches from the farmers market, and make pickles with the cukes the same friend gave us.
• I'm planning a girly horse-spa birthday for Friday. Curly Sue will be 8! WOW!

So there's my month at a glance. We're still here, just a little too busy with life right now to stop and write about it. Maybe I'll do better in July. Take care, everybody!

This Week's Thrifty Finds

This past Saturday was First Saturday- a day that holds close to National Holiday status around here. In case you don't know, on the first Saturday of every month, all of our local Goodwill stores have a 50% off sale. That's right. Everything in the store is HALF PRICE!! How can you not LOVE that! This month I got smart, and went to Goodwill Friday night to scope out the goods. (They put everything good out before closing Friday for the big sale Saturday.) Not only did I spy a few small things I got Friday (for fear they'd be gone Sat AM) but I spotted a few things that totally made it worth it to drag the girlies to Goodwill when they opened at 8. They didn't mind since they had allowances to burn. Here's what we scored...

The girls each got a new purse. Little Bit got the best deal, a Webkins carrier/ purse for $.34! This made good use of her $.50 from the tooth fairy the night before. Mr. I. met us there when he got off work, to help me schlep the tables home, and got himself some pilsner glasses while he was at it for $.45 ea. For Curly Sue (who's had a growth spurt) I got a Polo Skirt, a pair of Bobby Jack camo pants, and a twirly brown "suede" skirt. Peanut got a pair of jean shorts. Now, here's the real deals...

Check out this 16 pc. set of Corningware french white dishes. Similar sets are selling for $59- $130 online. I got this unopened, in the box, for $24. WOOHOO!! I love this stuff, and have wanted some forever, but was alarmed by the price. I even found room for it all in my itty bitty kitchen. YAY!

This is what I got Friday night. 2 yds of very PINK fabric (think bubblegum burlap, and you're close) for $1.99. The wire-thingy for the girls brushes & combs, $.49. A pine shelf to paint black for their bathroom wall. $.99. And these AWESOME Fleur-de-lis plates. (2 for $1.99)
Ooh La La!!

I saved the best for last. I got these curvy little tables for $10. Not $10 each, but $10 for both!! SCORE! I plan to paint them black, or maybe cream. I may do nail head trim around the tops. Who Knows! I'm not sure where they'll go yet, but I fell in love with their shape. End tables in the family room? a Pair of coctail tables in the Living room? Nightstands in a bedroom? Maybe I'll just put them on the front porch to admire! The possibilities are endless!

Stay tuned for more pics of the finished projects.
I LOVE First Saturday!

Our Memorial Day...

On Memorial Day we went to Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro.


The interpretive center was free, and thanks to their website, we got there in time to hear a ranger talk about one man who fought in the battle. Visiting the national cemetery made Memorial Day about a lot more than hot dogs and s'mores for the girls. Seeing 6,000 flags on soldiers' graves was amazing.