Thrift Store Roundup

Other than my one stop at Goodwill last week, I haven't been to a thrift store since before Christmas. My reasoning, and I think it's sound logic, is that if I don't go in, I won't spend money on anything. I'm brilliant!

However, Dixie was headed out to my end of the metroplex today on an errand, and asked if I wanted to meet up with her. Of course! We met in the Goodwill parking lot, and, you know, since we were there decided to go in.

I found this new-from-Target down/feather filled throw pillow for $3.99 (these go for $15-20+ at Target). I don't really care about the cover, because they will eventually be recovered to go with the new bedroom decor whenever we get around to that, but this one happened to coordinate with my current bed linens.

It has a silk-like sheen and pleats. I've started to amass a nice little collection of feather throw pillows from thrift stores. It's just a nice step up from polyfill, but I would not want pay full price for it.

I also got these two lambswool sweaters; the navy is brand new Land's End and was $2 at Goodwill, and the multi-stripe is Gap and was $1.55 at United Volunteers. They are both very nice sweaters, but I don't plan use them as such. Dixie recently introduced me to Betz White and her book Warm Fuzzies. She takes wool sweaters and felts them and uses the resulting fabric to make the cutest things. So that's what these are intended for.


My final and most exciting purchase....ta-da! Scrabble tiles!

I have been wanting to make those Scrabble tile pendants that I've seen all over the place, and have been looking for a Scrabble game for several months. Last night in an email to Dixie, we agreed to both keep an eye out, and if one of us found one, we would split it.

Today at United Volunteers, a place I have looked many times before, there was a practically new Scrabble game for $2! Then when we divvied up the tiles, there was actually two games' worth, so we each got 100 tiles for $1. That's a lot of pendants!

I've got a lot of stuff to get working on!

Stumped

I can't believe I haven't posted since Thursday! I didn't even have a Souper Saturday because we were out at a small group meeting. I'm having a hard time coming up with an original post today for some reason, I've got a ton of housework to do, and the children will be home from school in an hour so...
I'm going to do a meme, which I've seen around, but specifically got from Isela's blog. Copy and paste and highlight (bold) the ones you've done.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris (I suppose a layover at the airport doesn't count...)

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Gone rollerskating

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a homerun

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Acted in a play or performed on stage

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing (sort of; Handsome and I climbed a small cliff impromptu, no equipment, until we looked down and decided we were idiots)

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain (I'm going to say yes to this with qualifiers...kissed in the falling snow, and kissed in the sprinklers on a golf course)

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten caviar

72. Pieced a quilt (never finished it)

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible once

86. Visited the White House

87. Won money

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Had to put someone you love in Hospice Care

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day

Well, that just proves it....Booorr--inngg!

I Heart Pottery Barn

I have for many years been in love with Pottery Barn. I have wandered the stores. I have gathered the paint chips. I have collected the catalogs, flipping longingly through the pages, wondering how I could somehow recreate the look in my home(s). My home(s) that does/did not have the hardwood floors, the 12 foot ceilings, the interesting nooks, the pedestal sinks; basically having nothing that is essential to the PB "look". Most importantly, the bank account.

PB is too rich for my blood. I love the look, but not the price tag.

Several years ago, I uncharacteristicly got into a last-seconds bidding war on ebay for a PBKids quilt for Pinkerbelle's new big-girl bed. I ended up paying a little more than I wanted to, but I won!

She has used it in four different houses, but recently I passed our down comforter on to her when we replaced it with a larger one, and I wanted a duvet cover for her. I spent a couple months looking. I was going to make it out of sheets if need be, but couldn't even find sheets that were cute enough at a good enough price.

Just before Christmas I was in Goodwill, and took a quick look through the linens. I missed it the first time, but on my second pass, there it was. Something pretty...it was an actual duvet cover...and it was the right size (f/q)...and linens were 25% off that day! Awesome! It ended up being $15. That was a good price, even for Goodwill. A steal! But, when I got it home and looked for the tag with the washing instructions, I discovered...the authentic Pottery Barn tag! Be still my heart! Now I love it even more!

Her room is unfinished, so I'm not going to show the whole bed, but here is the cover, in all its heavy cotton/linen loveliness.


Yesterday I was at the same Goodwill and they had two of these Pottery Barn Kids chairs for $9 each. They were pink. I really thought about it hard, really hard, but in the end, I didn't get them. We have quite a few child-size chairs still, and I just didn't need them. I remember them being in the catalog, but it must have been a while ago, because the one and only mention of them that I could find online was this ad on the Denver craigslist. If you're in the Denver area, and quick, she's selling the whole set of 4 chairs and a table.

Chapter 2: one PB item that I have been coveting for the last 4 or 5 years is the PB Grand Phone. I originally wanted the wall-mounted one in red, to create this phone center that appeared in the March 2005 issue of Southern Living.

I did do the chalkboard paint, and even the red shelf above it, but had to use a plain, modern black phone. That was three houses ago, and this is a photo of a photo. You can't even see the phone, but it's next to the calendar.

They don't carry the red anymore, and I later decided I wanted the metal finish anyway. But I did not want to pay $79 for it. So for months I have been regularly watching ebay for a good deal. They often sell for nearly as much as brand new. Last week, though, I stumbled upon a just-listed buy-it-now EUC (excellent used condition) for $24.99. I snatched it up before someone else could. It's heavy, so shipping was $13, but that's still pretty good.

It arrived the other day, and I love it! The handset feels substantial, it rings like a real phone (not the modern techno screechy sound), and, let's face it, it just looks cool! And, in fact, I think I'm probably a little more cool now myself because of it.

What is not cool is that it just took me over an hour to write this post!

Julia at Hooked on Houses is have a Hooked on Fridays blog party...check it out!

Whatever

Yesterday, the children went back to school. After two weeks of Christmas vacation, we were all ready for it (except for Firstborn; he feels it's a waste of his time). Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, and they are good kids and in general, well behaved. But, by golly, they are loud! And I thrive on solitude and quiet. I could easily take up residence in a convent and uphold a vow of silence.

So imagine my surprise when at 5:30 this morning I got an automated call telling me that school is closed today due to weather! Some kind of cruel hoax? No. There was ice during the night, and I'm sure the roads were slick at 4:00 am when they made the decision, but by the time the bus would've come, they just looked wet. Whatever.

So, what did we do today? We stayed in our pajamas. No showers, nothing. They watched a fair amount of tv this morning, until I turned it off. Then, we made playdough.

Combine in a pot:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
one packet of unsweetened koolaid (optional)
Add:
1 cup water
1-1/2 Tbsp oil
(If you are not using koolaid--we didn't have any today--put food coloring in the water before you add it to the dry ingredients.) Stir over medium heat until it begins to form a ball. Knead with a little flour if necessary.

Playdough kept these two busy for a good hour.

Then we needed some lunch. There wasn't much in the house, so we ended up making pizza. I tried the Self-Rising Pizza Crust from Hillbilly Housewife since it was already 1:00 and we didn't want to wait for dough to rise.

Looks good coming out of the oven!

The crust was slightly biscuit-like, and not quite as 'done' as I would like. I usually par-bake my crust before adding toppings. But it was pretty good for being so fast. In fact, the kids liked it a lot. Best ever! Better than we usually have! Yes, meaning better than the crust that takes about 2 hours from start to finish every Friday. Whatever.

I've got chicken and dumplings in the crockpot for a cozy cold weather supper, using this recipe. Except instead of canned soup, I used homemade condensed cream of chicken soup from Tammy's Recipes. And instead of refrigerator biscuits, I'll just make some biscuit dough. I've used the chicken and dumplings recipe before, and it's good, and I've used Tammy's soup before, and it was good, but this is the first time I've used them together.

And what are the kids doing now?

They're playing school. On their day off. Whatever.

Mr. Crackalakin spent literally hours preparing his lessons and writing textbooks.

Knit Wit

I finished up my two knitting projects today. First is Skippy's scarf; he did quite a bit of the knitting himself. He looks quite happy with the way it turned out.

Second is my scarf, made with Pooch yarn. This yarn was a little more challenging to work with, as it didn't have too much stretch, and the nubby texture tended to get caught on itself. That's not to say it was difficult, however. Far from it.

You know how some people can toss on a scarf and it makes their whole outfit, and it gives them an air of being so cool and chic? I'm not one of those people. I don't know why, but I do not look cool in a scarf. On the other hand, again for unknown reasons, almost any hat looks good on me. But hats are never in style.

There was some interest expressed in the knitting looms, so I thought I'd share some info. I used the circle Knifty Knitter looms by Provocraft. The set of 4 is about $12 at Walmart, and about $15 at Michael's, which would make it about $9 with the 40% off coupon.

There are several other types of looms, including these long looms. They are $20 at Michael's (haven't seen them at Walmart), and I got them last week with the 50% off coupon, but I haven't used them yet.

Both of the scarves were knit as a flat panel on the circle looms, the orange scarf on the blue loom, the Pooch scarf on the red loom. They both were knit using the garter stitch. I found a really great tip for the garter stitch on Isela Phelps' blog, The Purling Sprite. She appears to be the queen of loom knitting. I also have one of her books out of the library: Loom Knitting Primer.

Some other helpful sites:
Loom Knitting Help
Ravelry
a list of loom knitting blogs
loom knitting patterns

There's a lot more info on the web; just google it. Also check Amazon for several more books on the topic. Hopefully this will help you get started.

The next project I (may) attempt is a felted bag from Loom Knitting Primer. I bought the wool today, 1/2 off at Michael's this week. We shall see....

Souper Saturday--Taco Soup

Handsome requested taco soup tonight. There is an abundance of taco soup recipes available, most of them fairly similar. Here's my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants version.

1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 can chili beans, undrained
2 cans diced tomatoes, pureed
2 cups beef broth
about 1/2 cup cooked ground beef (had it in the freezer; normally I would use more)
1 can of corn
taco seasoning
ranch dressing mix

I didn't have a packet of taco seasoning, so used chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano, paprika and salt and pepper. I did happen to have half a packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, which I didn't really want to use anymore since I realized it has MSG. But I also didn't want to take the trouble right now to find a clone recipe to try to approximate it, so I dumped it in.

Ratings:
Handsome 8.5
Me 7
Firstborn 5
Skippy 8
Pinkerbelle 3

Average 6.3

It was good, but I thought it lacked just a little something, I'm guessing because I did not use actual taco seasoning. Here's a recipe for making your own to keep on hand (it's the one I used to guesstimate the spices I put in the soup, but I didn't follow quantities); I think I'll give it a try. It's probably cheaper than packets, and no mystery ingredients.

Starting Fresh

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I've never been one to formally make New Year's resolutions, but there is something about a fresh new year that feels like starting with a clean slate. Maybe this year I can be different, do better!

Every January I usually make a renewed attempt at daily Bible reading. I've tried many different plans, and I have several different read-the-Bible-in-a-year Bibles. I've tried chronological. I've tried the kind that has you reading a little old testament, a little new testament, and some Psalms and Proverbs each day; I don't care for that method. It's too flighty for me. The bigger problem is, they all still start in Genesis.

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So every January I start reading Genesis. Again. If I'm doing really well, I might make it 5 or 6 weeks before getting bogged down and petering out.

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This year I'm going to try something a little different. I'm going to start in the New Testament. And I think I'll just focus on the New Testament this year, as far as my reading plan goes.

A Google search revealed that One Year New Testament plans are harder to come by, but I found a few. Specifically I was looking for a chronological version. Here are the three I bookmarked:

• Mini ministry
• Theophilus1 (scroll down to NT)
• LindleyPreacher's

I also found a copy of My Utmost for His Highest (updated in today's language) at a thrift store recently. I think I'll give that a go, too. Perhaps I'll update on my progress from time to time to help give me a little accountability.

Care to join me?