01 Monday Apr 2013
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Hi All! Just wanted to let everyone know that I am going to be on a short break for about a week. We moved into our new house and I have LOTS of work to do. Plus, we have no internet at this point and won’t for a little while. Hopefully I will be back on schedule with my posts very soon!
29 Sunday Apr 2012
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10 year old boys, books, books for 10 year old boys, Conspiracy 365, interesting books, literature, pre-teen books, reading, suspense, Usborne books
It makes my heart happy to see Mr. Luke enjoying reading. He has always loved books and by the looks of his overflowing bookshelf (almost all purchased at garage sales), I would say, he has a pretty large collection. It is not always easy to find interesting books for 10 year old boys, but Luke has found a great series called Conspiracy 365 by Usborne Books.
These books are action packed and filled with mind grabbing information. There are 13 books in the series including one for each month of the year and one called Revenge. This is what the Usborne website says about the books….
On New Year’s Eve, Cal is chased down the street by a staggering, sick man with a deadly warning…
“They killed your father. They’ll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days.”
Hurled into a life on the run the 15-year-old fugitive is isolated and alone. Hunted by the law and ruthless criminals, Cal must somehow uncover the truth about his father’s mysterious death and a history-changing secret. Who can he turn to, who can he trust, when the whole world seems to want him dead?
The clock is ticking. Any second could be his last.
Callum Ormond has been warned.
He has 365 days.
The countdown has begun…
12 books. 12 months.
Sounds suspenseful, doesn’t it? Anyway, here is a pic of Luke from last night while curled up in my bed reading his book.
One more thing…since I am thrifty and have a hard time stomaching buying a book that will only get read once (most likely) and then sit on a shelf, we have reserved the next books in the series at the library and can hopefully keep up with the series that way. We love our local library and frequent it quite often. Now you know where we will be spending a lot of our summer!
20 Friday Apr 2012
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Earth Day is a great way to teach kids about the importance of being kind to our planet. There are so many great resources for kids activities or you can simply get involved by cleaning up your neighborhood or a local park. In Minot right now there is a huge need for volunteers to help clean up flood debris and what better day to do it than Earth Day!!!
Here are so really fun kids activities that you just may want to try this year!
Just a few ideas to get the creativity going! So get out there this weekend and make a difference. Something as simple as cleaning your own yard, planting a tree, or picking up some trash makes a big difference in making the Earth just a little better for the next generation!
18 Wednesday Apr 2012
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I bought a coffee table for Sweet & Flour Patisserie at a thrift store in Bismarck several months ago. I paid $25 for it, which was a steal because it was in great condition. It needed some updating and since I was wanting a coffee table to match the end table I had already redone, this table was just perfect. Unfortunately I cannot find the before pics of this beauty, but here are the after shots!
I am getting so excited to see how Sweet & Flour looks when it is all put together! I will post lots of pics when it is all finished 
Opening day is coming soon!
14 Saturday Apr 2012
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DISCLAIMER: This is not my normal happy post. I am crabby today and in keeping this blog real, I am going to let my frustration out!
Can I just be real for a moment? Here goes….I hate this whole downsizing situation. I hate that we went from a 3200 square foot house with a 2 car garage and a 2 story shed to a 1500 square foot house with a 1 car garage and no storage what so ever.
I hate that I have had to get rid of over half of my stuff and I still have zero room for anything. I hate that I still have a garage full of boxes and a bunch of stuff still at Ryan’s parents house and there is not an inch of space to put anything in the house.
It makes me angry that I have 8 dining room chairs for my beautiful dining set and no room for them. I have furniture, appliances, light fixtures, a kitchen sink, toys, keepsakes, and all sorts of other random stuff with absolutely no place to have them. I loved having so much space in our old house. I loved having room for doing crafts and house projects. Room for Luke to play and spread out without me having to kill my feet on his Legos.
I hate that I used to be able to host parties and holidays at my house and now, there is really not room for any of that. One dish in the sink makes it look like I haven’t cleaned house for a month and a sink full of dishes makes it look like I haven’t cleaned since we moved in.
So what are my options? I really don’t have any idea how long we are going to be in this house. It could be a matter of months or it could be a matter of years. It bothers me beyond belief to have all this stuff (including half of my kitchen appliances, utensils, dishes, etc.) in storage when other people could be using them. It bugs me that my clothes are in boxes under the bed because there is no room for a normal dresser in the bedroom and the closet barely fits Ryan’s work clothes.
Do I just get rid of the stuff in boxes in the garage and at Ryan’s parents house? Should I just go completely simple and bare minimum? What happens if we do move to a larger house in the future? I really don’t want to have to go buy all the things we have already all over again if we do get to upgrade some day.
I just hate that none of this was by my own choosing and that I was forced into this downsize because of “An Act of God” which was really more of a man made disaster.
I know, I know, I should be happy to have a roof over my head and I am happy for that. I just really am going crazy with the amount of stuff that needs to try to get jam packed into this little house. And now with Ryan working for home for a while (not sure how long), this house has to fit the needs of a home, an office, and a college.
Guess the time has come for yet another garage sale. Or maybe a huge load to the Goodwill store. One plus side, our next move should be pretty easy since we will have about 1/4 of the stuff we had when we evacuated the other house.
And I guess I will be saving money by not shopping! Even garage saling doesn’t sound fun this year. Bummer!
10 Tuesday Apr 2012
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Last night (no lie), I told Ryan that I really needed to find some new jeans for Luke. He has been growing like crazy and his pants are showing both immense wear and are creeping up to his ankles. Some people would call them flood pants or high waters, but after the real flood we experienced, I don’t think I will be using that term any more. You would have had to have some pretty dang short pants to not get them wet in that flood!!
Anyway, I needed to go to my favorite place on earth (as Luke would say, Is that sarcasm? Yes, yes it is!), Wal-mart, this morning for some groceries, but I ended up walking out of there with a lot more than I had bargained for at a true bargain. My quick trip through the grocery aisles and a instant reminder that I needed sandpaper led my through the middle of the store and right by the boy’s clothes. The signs started jumping out at me $1, $3, $5!!! Clearance time! My very own heaven in the middle of Wal-Mart!!
What I found was thrilling for a bargain hunter like me. I ended up leaving the store with 4 pairs of jeans, 4 pairs of chapel pants, 1 pair of track pants, and 1 shirt for $42.00!! Well, with tax it was $44.94. Good thing Luke could care less about brand names. As long as there are clothes in his drawer, he is happy!
$5.00 per pair
$5.00 per pair
$1.00 for shirt and $3.00 per pair for pants
So now you may be wondering how much did this bargaining shopping save me…Well, the actual retail price for all the items came to $153.76 with tax and since I paid $44.94 for everything with tax, that is a savings of $108.82!!!!
To top it off, my godmother had sent $50 to buy Luke some new jeans for his birthday…bet she wasn’t expecting me get 9 pairs of pants and a shirt for less than $50. Or maybe she was since she knows I am a thrifty shopper. Thanks again, Linda!! Not bad for a quick trip to Wal-Mart for some groceries!
09 Monday Apr 2012
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I started a new tradition this Easter morning in the form of a scavenger hunt to find the Easter basket. I used to just set a basket out in the living room for Luke, but now that he is older, he rips through his basket in about 2 seconds and that is the end of it. I decided that a scavenger hunt would be a fun way for him to have to search for the basket. Saturday evening I spent cutting out little bunny feet and making clues for the hunt.
Sunday morning arrived and Luke was up bright and early ready for the day to begin. Little did he know that there was a surprise waiting for him. He walked out of his room to a trail of bunny feet just waiting to be followed. He loved every minute of it and thought it was so fun to search around the house for the next clue. A successful new tradition has been made!!
Mookie had to join in on the fun!
A very fun way to start out a great Holiday! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter day!! Tomorrow I will post some more fun from our Easter weekend
01 Sunday Apr 2012
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Check out all the amazing before and after projects on Thrifty Decor Chick! I even posted one of my own!
16 Friday Mar 2012
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I am so excited to be jumping in the car and heading to Detroit Lakes this weekend for some girl time with my friend, Kelli, and her family. Kelli lives in Raleigh, NC now, but about 27 years ago, she was my weekend adventure buddy. When my parents divorced, my dad found a little apartment to live in and we would stay with him on the weekends. Kelli, her mom, and sister lived in the apartment downstairs from my dad and as fate would have it, 2 five year old girls found lifelong friendship on the back steps on that little apartment building.
From 1985-1990, Kelli and I found ways to get in all sorts of crazy predicaments (while at the same time driving our parents crazy!). You just never knew what sort of scheme we would come up with next and we had a blast in the process. Those care free days of slip and slide, whiffle ball, rides in the Scout, bike rides through the neighborhood, and sitting on the step eating pomegranates are some of my fondest memories. We can reminisce endless about the time my dad got ketchup all over himself at Perkins or about the time my brother ran into the screen door at the lake and we never get tired of the stories (of course, everyone around us wants to cry from hearing the stories so many times).
Reality would show that Kelli and I could not be more different. She is an adventurer, ready to pick up and travel or move where ever the spirit moves while I like to have my feet planted on the ground. Kelli is a career girl who is extremely good at her job and loves to be on the go, I am more of a homebody and have no idea what I really want to do with my life. But, even with our differences, we have so much in common and we never have a lack of things to gab on and on about!
Because of her grandma’s 80th birthday, Kelli and her family are making the trek to Detroit Lakes this weekend and since it is only about a 6 hour drive from me, I would never miss the opportunity for a girl’s weekend get away. Who knows what kind of crazy adventure we could get ourselves into in the process!
13 Tuesday Mar 2012
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I posted to a couple of linky parties today!One is all about spray paint and you can get lots of ideas by clicking on the link below and checking out other people’s projects!!
The other is a fun linky party with tons of different ideas including decor, crafts, recipes, and so much more! Check them out!
http://www.uncommondesignsonline.com/
