It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Yesterday we had a light dusting of snow when we woke up. The tiniest flakes I have ever seen were falling all day but not amounting to much. Until the afternoon, while the kids were napping, it finally started accumulating a little...

I went outside to take water to the critters (theirs was frozen solid) and snapped a few pictures...

The poor chickens were hunkering down under their house... if it is going to be a hard winter, I really need to figure out different housing for them that would accommodate a heat lamp. Poor ladies.

This was when the snow first started sticking... now we have more like four inches...

That is not a great representation because the snow fell through the holes in the table and chair before it finally plugged them up and started piling up, but look at the fence in the background and the edge of the lawn- there is a good four inches in most places.

Mark and I had talked about decorating for Christmas soon, so when he woke up he immediately wanted to get out the Christmas lights. I couldn't fight it any longer; I busted out our favorite Christmas album...

It is 'rock orchestra' Christmas music and the album is a story, from start to finish with original music as well as traditional Christmas songs mixed throughout. Seen them live. Love. Read the reviews on that link.

And we put out some of our decorations (no lights yet). I also tested out something I always want to do but never remember at Christmastime - wrapping presents in newspaper!

Do you think I'm crazy?! They do it in Pottery Barn catalogs every year, along with brown paper wrapping, which I have done in the past. I think I like it, but I may pick up a Little Nickel, because I like it better with just print; less graphics and photos. What do you think? I plan to do all our presents this way and love that I don't have to buy three styles of wrapping paper which won't get used up and I will feel guilty over not using when I buy three more rolls next year. =) Is that just me?

I plan to do a house tour while my house is decorated for the holidays and after I get a couple big projects done.

So, what about you? What are your favorite decorations, music, or traditions for the holiday season?

Tea Towel Pillow Cover

While on the state surplus run, Leah and I stopped in for lunch at Ikea. We had no room for anything else in the van, but had planned on eating at Ikea and we were both craving their trademark meatballs, so we breezed through. On the way through, I happened to spot some cute dish towels for $0.49/ea, and had to snag four of them-- I could fit them in the van for sure. Leah keeps mentioning a blogger who has towels folded in a locker basket by her sink and I am planning on stealing the idea. Before I could get to that, somehow I had an epiphany to cover a little pillow with one, though!

The dish towel folded over the pillow perfectly, matching up on all sides.

I tied a bulky knot at the end of my thread (a loop would have been better), and hid it by starting on the inside between the two layers of dish towel, and sewing a simple straight stitch by hand right on top of the existing hem stitches, down one end and then the long side, then pausing to slip it over the pillow...

I pulled it all the way on and then closed up the last edge by finishing that straight stitch, tying it off in between the seams and cutting the thread.

I am really happy with the way it came out! It is homey and has character; it almost looks old! Now I can't wait to get two fluffy new down pillow forms for my couch and sew up something similar... maybe linen... mattress ticking... or burlap... or even corduroy... oh the possibilities!!

I should have waited and taken pictures in the daylight, but I am impatient. =)

State furniture, weird children & a haircut

Some of the items I got from the state have found homes and purposes around the house.

These are the goblets (or parfait glasses?)…

I decided to be fancy and drink my orange juice from one yesterday morning (after I scrubbed them within an inch of their life =). I hope they will inspire me to set the table more often – I am really lazy about that.

We use one of the desks for homeschool and find that it is fun and both Mark and I enjoy using it…

I know it is floating out in the middle of the room, but I have a tiny house and no other place for it. It is pretty functional there, though, with a view of our chalkboard (I'll show you that area when I get it set up soon) and close to the kitchen so I can be getting stuff done while he works on assignments.

I had planned on storing the other desk in the attic until Susie started school, but it found an interesting purpose before I got around to putting it in the attic…

For the time being, it actually makes a cute, unique and functional side table, which I had been needing anyway. Can’t beat a $1 side table! I stashed the remotes and current study/reading materials inside the desk…

Now I just badly need new lamps! Mine are so cheesy.

Speaking of cheesy… I had Mark helping me try to take a self-timer photo on the camera to show you my new haircut, because it needed a focal point while I pressed the timer button, and he was hamming it up…

Then he says, “I want to take a real one, mom” so I oblige…

Okay…. how is that ‘real’?

Then I decided to just set up the camera and let him push the button, so he did, but he said I needed to hold Susie Bieber for the picture…

Is she astonished or cross-eyed? I can’t tell! Crazy kids! But that is the cut… do you notice a big difference? I got ‘bangs’! Here is a better shot I did in the mirror…

I know they barely qualify as bangs. I am deathly afraid of bangs. Last time I got ‘bangs’ they were too long and when I excitedly showed hubby who likes the 90’s ‘bumper’ style bangs… he said “I thought you said you got bangs.” They didn’t cut it – being too long they just ended up behind my ear. So this time I closed my eyes and mustered my courage and told my hair cutter to go a little shorter than last time. They are pretty much what I was picturing I guess, but I am still getting used to them. Change is always fun, though!

The Motherlode

In trying to set up a “schoolhouse” atmosphere for homeschooling, I ran across some privileged information. Actually, it is not privileged, it is public. But apparently y’all don’t know about it. This information was so intriguing, Leah and I had to load up in the VAN, and drive almost two hours one way, to verify this information and experience it for ourselves.

I present to you… state surplus.

It may not look like much there, but, oh what treasures are hidden, like diamonds in the rough…

So here’s the deal… whenever a state-run agency doesn’t need something (from a ballpoint pen to a vehicle, to real estate), they sell it through auction and/or their warehouse sales.

Crazy stuff.

I have a netbook but for some reason I wanted to take home one of these clear edged keyboards…

I am such a sucker for office supplies… I may have come home with some organizing accessories…

There were file cabinets in an array of colors (this is only a small sampling)…

And chairs, oh the chairs all wanted me to take them home! Am I strange? These were cute muted colors…

And I lingered longest over this sea of chairs I think…

I was just looking for ones I had an excuse to bring home. I found a couple. Those orange ones near the bottom were cute, and up in the back right those ones in yellow, red and blue? They are very cool. I don’t know what material they are made of, but it gets me every time.

I made Leah push the cart and babysit my children throughout the duration of the trip. She knows that is the price she pays for shopping with me.

Oh, that 50% off sign lied… EVERYTHING was 50% off.

There were bin after bin after bin (literally) of what I’m guessing were pocket knives that had been confiscated at schools and such…

And even tons of cars in the parking lot for sale, including dump trucks, school buses and cop cars…

Don’t worry, I didn’t buy a cop car. This is what we came away with between the two of us…

Minus the shopping cart and the rolling trolley thingy. And there is one book case already in the back of the van. This stuff was stacked to the ceiling, and we almost had to take it all out to buckle Mark when he yelled "I'm not buckled!!!" as I tried to drive off, but was able to stretch over the pile and reach the buckle with one hand.

The breakdown? My purchases were -

three hard plastic chairs @ $1/ea (that is not a typo)

two desks @ $1/ea (again)

wood play kitchen $5

scale $1

game $1

pull-down map $2.50

school chalkboard with cork top rail $5

six glass goblets at $0.25/ea

five wire baskets @ $0.50/ea

two laptop chalkboards @ $0.50/ea

Grand total $26. and some change!

That is amazing! You might feel like I paid $26 for a pile of crap, but I have been on the market for this stuff and these deals were amazing. I had purchased a flimsy chalkboard online for $48 the same size as the one I got for $5! And I priced a real one (like the one I got for $5) at well over $300 new! And those $1 chairs are $80 new!

I’m loving all my school house stuff. And since I love you guys, I will share the ‘privileged’ information with you all. Just in case anyone else out there is crazy enough to check it out.

Here is the auction and store information. Note: the 50% off at the Auburn location was due to the upcoming consolidation of two warehouses, and in the coming weeks it will change to 75% off and then things will be sold by the pallet. After that they will be moved to the Tumwater location and that location will remain open without the discount. Still, I would have bought the chairs and desks if they were $2 instead of $1!!

I am going again tomorrow (that crazy) to show the goods to another friend and to pickup some stools that I was retarded not to buy the first time. I’ll try to get back here tomorrow to link you when Leah tells us about her purchases and to share what homes I found in my home for the new finds. That was a weird sentence. Time to go to bed!

Inspired

Now that I got the media outta my face, I have been bustling around my house getting things done and totally nesting. I have been inspired by Nadine's Pantry, Organic Dollar's home (her blog tells us how to be frugal + organic, but you would be impressed if she blogged a house tour =) and pantry, and Humble Pie's blog, to get organized in my kitchen. I don't have a pantry to stock my staples in, so I have to cram them into a corner cabinet and a drawer. I think I will add some wall shelves in the dining room and stock some staples in cute containers there as a sort of make-shift pantry.

Until then, I figured I do what I could with what I have. It was just your basic toss the junk and put things back routine, but during the reorganization I reminded myself to follow my own advice and use pretty containers...

I replaced many crumpled, half-empty, non-air tight bags of staples with jars or canisters...

It made a much cleaner, not to mention fresher, pantry.

I used pitchers to corral cereal, keeping it fresher and putting those plastic pitchers to good use again (I have glass ones and so never used these anymore). I also put the oatmeal in a canister and the granola in a jar and used a basket to keep the snacks together.

In family news, Susie is walking now, at 11 months and is perhaps more of a daredevil than her rough-n-tumble brother even was. The past few days have looked like this...

Okay, grandma was just out of the photo on that last one, in case she needed to be caught. She is such a climber! Look at that face! "What guys?"