Little Treasures

These are my little thrifty finds i found at one of my favorite thrift stores. I am in love with thrift stores, so i thought i would share! The fun of finding other peoples trash and making it my treasure! For example this little mirror (so amazing) paid $5.00 for it and this little bird house 2.50, Handmade hat .25, the precious little book 1.00 my grandmother had pictures hanging in her house by this artist. And the little cup 1.00 with a little chalk board front for my little girl to drink tea in.
So happy with my purchases!!!!

It is so exciting to find stuff at thrift stores and i have a few really good ones close by! My husband thanks i am crazy and calls it junk! He does not understand at all but he doesn't have to!!!  He does like that it makes me happy! I mean, i come home with a big bag with tons of goodies and say hey honey look what i got!! However, most of the time i don't have to say anything cause he see's a bag and knows, so he just smiles and shakes his head!!! HA I LOVE IT!!!!

A side from my coffee this is my other addiction!!!
I also like to see the potential in something and make it my own to change it up a bit for example these cute little letters I found for 3.00 and they were blah so i decided i would cover them with scrapbook paper. I went to the store to pick out some scrap paper that would work. I found some but when i brought them home I put them on the letters and didn't like it so i put it all a side and decided to come back to it later.
My littlest girl had received a gift and i had set the bag on the floor in my living room as i was sitting on my couch and looked over at the bag and "light bulb" I can use the bag it was so cute and it all matched so perfectly so i cut it up and put it on the letters...this is how it turned out!

What ya think? Not to bad huh? This is where i put it...

This is not that great of a pic but it looks good as a whole in the room

Then i found this little lamp for 2.50 it was so plain and didn't match anything but i knew i could make it my own! So I was originally going to use it in my kitchen as a little accent light but i wasn't feeling it once i put it in there. So we recently put up bunk beds in my sons room and i thought i would put it in there so he could have a little reading lamp! Perfect so I grabbed some fabric and covered it to match his room, and a frame i had just put together with the same fabric...

Another wonderful thing i found was this popcorn maker!!! If you do not know popcorn in the bags are horrible for you and it's much better for you to pop it on the stove or in a air popper! Like this one i found for 3.00 which the original price new is $20. which is why i like to thrift!!

My family loves popcorn and movie night and now i feel good about them eating it!

Hope you enjoyed my little treasures...

making a house a home

My husband and i have moved 8 times in our7 yrs we have been married...I know CrAzY right...to make it even more interesting I was pregnant 3 out of the 8. (like about to pop) Our children were born in 3 different states. Why have we moved so many times? mostly because of my husbands job. (no we are not military) but we have had to sacrifice a lot for me to stay home with our children.  And I must say it has been worth it all, and all we have lost.

We were 22 when we got married and were able to move into a new home at the time with a lease/option to purchase and then we lost it when my husband lost his company. All within our 1st year together. So we moved in with some families from our church for a few weeks/months until we were able to find something of our own. Meanwhile I am pregnant and scared to death! New wife and now about to be a new mother and now not sure where we are going to live?????  Until we had family help us find a home they bought, we paid rent. It was a old house from the 60's and it needed a lot of work. I wanted to cry (my raging hormones didn't help) but my sweet husband saw the potential and reassured me it would all be fine. So we got to work, every moment of our spare time and weekends we were working, stripping wall paper, painting, pulling up carpet, fixing floors, changing light fixtures, painting cabinets (which were mauve) *sigh* and I made so many trips to home depot and lowe's that they knew me by name.

this was her favorite PINK room although not her first

Needless to say, it turned out cute and something we could call our own. You appreciate what you have a lot more when you work hard for it. Just 2 months later our daughter was born, I was able to bring her home to a room we painted pink just for her. I still remember praying over her little room as i painted it. A year later we moved to MS. for a better job because we were struggling to make ends meet. My husband was offered a job and we took it without looking back. The one and only time a company paid for us to move so we actually didn't have to pack. just unpack.

Our 1st year in MS we just rented a small house until we were able to get to know the area. It never felt like home. Once our year was almost up we started looking for a home. We found one and Bought our very 1st house and moved 2 weeks after our son was born. That house will always be special to us. We felt at home the very moment we stepped foot on the property. It was more our style out in the country surrounded by tree's and more of what we grew up having and hoped to have for our own children. It was nothing fancy but it was ours! We lived in that house for 2 1/2 yrs. making that our home, full of fun, laughter, fellowship, friendships, growth, and most importantly Love! We built some amazing memories there that we will never forget. It was a sad day for all of us when we had to leave it all behind. To seek out another job.

We have moved twice since then to one other state (closer to where i lived as a child) but we have yet to put down our roots. We DO like where we are and hope to stay but you never know what life brings your way. So here is my advice for anyone who cares to hear or take it. Where ever you are living, especially if you have children it is important to make what you have into your home. Make it home for them. Make it familiar, and cherish the time and things you do together. The house is not what you base your life on or the pressure society puts on you to keep up with the riches of rich. Just breathe, find ways to make it feel yours and it's the life inside those walls that matter and what you do to cherish your time spent together to make wherever you are feel like a part of home.  I would not trade our experience and all the wonderful people we have met along the way. As for me this is how i have had to live my life. Of course i hope to put down roots someday, and live in a house that fits us best, and not take anymore away from children, but until then (if I am ever able) I will continue with what i have and make the most of it and just work with what is handed to me and where ever i end up...i am making my house a home!

sharing life

I have been absent for a bit because i have had a eventful week full of fun and life. Sharing our home with a precious family with four precious children and a women that I learned some things about mothering, home school, books, thrift shops, coffee, cooking, cleaning, saving money, living natural and just life itself we had a week full of adventure. Watching these precious children set a wonderful example to my children and watching them work around me in the kitchen (cleaning, cooking, laundry and caring for my littlest one) I feel inspired once again...at the moment i have that empty house feeling that i dislike when you have had a full house and then all is quite. Life has to get back to the way it was...blah...its nice to be normal but i enjoy a full house with life all around!

Seeing what is ahead in training my own children to display such great character and learning how to care for a home and serve others is a wonderful thing.

It is wonderful to have a friend that has the same goals and outlook on life to share and Learn so much from. I really enjoyed sitting back and observing this women and this family live in action. My children have gained more understanding as well and i am thankful they have wonderful children to follow after and look up to. Thank you to The Morgan's for setting such a beautiful example before us. We enjoying having you in our home and look forward to many more memories shared ahead.

keeping it real

All my Little's are sleeping on this freezing rainy day, and i should be too. Here is a glimpse of the not so perfect...So have you tried and failed well I had 2 of those moments recently. I made some oatmeal cranberry bars and instead of putting a cup of butter (which is 2 sticks by the way) in case you did not know because i did not pay attention in the midst of chaos and put only one stick. Wondering what in the world happened. However, they still tasted good just did not stick together all that well. So in my next attempt it should be perfection.

The second attempt to try something outside of the kitchen, I decided to cover my daughters lamp shade in fabric flowers which i thought would be adorable turned out i do not like it and not sure if i will start over and if i can even save the poor shade i hot glued? (oops) not to mention i spent a lot of time making a ton of flowers oh well trial and error...we shall see if i get a second opinion before i take it apart or trash it. I may show a pic of it on a later post. I do not have one yet to show.

Just trying to keep it real cause sometimes we can paint a picture of a perfect life and that is not always the case we do make mistakes and have errors...not everything we put our hands to turn out just right, we cant always be perfect right....so i have to remind myself...let your hair down a little relax, laugh, and breathe!!!!

yes i am tired!

It can be challenging to keep your cool in the midst of chaos and remain in a soft calm voice when every time you turn around you have a little one putting something in there mouth or pulling things off the shelf. Or your son who loves to throw things (balls, pillows, toys,) just to see how far they will go. Running around the house with his bow screaming to the top of his lungs "for Narnia!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And your oldest in fairy tale land all day and having to get her to snap into reality just so i can get something across to her that this is important...while trying to clean, do laundry, cook whatever it may be and i say what in the world am i doing? Motherhood is wonderful but you have your days!

Even when you give them everything you got...and they still complain its not good enough when you just spent hours on the floor playing or colored 5 pictures and you have to get up to get some stuff done/cook dinner etc. and their little hearts are not content so you have to pull it together and give a positive (gentle) response! When you just want to say are you kidding me! We have all had our days/moments! Oh how they bring out the best in you! Its what i refer to as unconditional love...and Oh how I Love them!!!!

So thankful for the moments of fun and laughter because they help you forget about the bad moments, liking losing your cool, or throwing out a bad response in anger, cause your on over load. I Thank God that his mercies are new everyday, and that he is still patient with me as i am learning this thing called mothering!

Thanks for letting me keep it real!

our little adventures...

This last week was busy! We had a house full of guest with us for 10 days and we went on some little adventures at my mothers cabin and hiking at skyline drive. My kids and family Love the great outdoors!! It is one of our many delights in life. When we moved here we were so excited to be surrounded by mountains and beautiful scenery! So here is a little glimpse of our adventures...

Even the smallest enjoy the great adventures...we hiked over so many creeks....i lost count

This was just one of the many...

There is so much to enjoy in nature...it makes you feel alive...here is Kate listening to a bear story!
Exploring the Great Outdoors...

Go to our learning at home page to see what we discovered about beavers...