lately… on a Thursday

 

Haha, just kidding, I am not doing a Thursday Latelies video like Leah does.  I HATE being on that side of still OR video cameras alike.  But, I do have a great find to share with you.  Actually, I just thought of another one, so TWO great finds to share with you.  Sorry, I am YELLING a lot today. I’ll try to tone it down some.  =)

I used to use a mainstream mascara which I will allow to remain anonymous, which always stung when it got in my eye, when washing it off or rubbing my eyes.  Well last year my MIL got me Clinique high impact mascara for Christmas…

Not only does it not sting my eyes, but it has somehow allowed my lashes to grow longer!  No, I did not use Latisse… does anyone besides Brooke use that stuff?  No, my hypothesis is that it doesn’t stick so bad to my lashes and doesn’t break them off or make them pull out as often.  Seriously though, my lashes are longer now.  True story.

Secondly, I picked up my usual cheap old shampoo last week.  I’ve used Pantene Pro-V for like a million years.  I’m not picky about hair products.  I use their Frizzy to Smooth formula, which I kinda figured probly didn’t work but at least it would try to tame my beast.  Last week when I picked it up I noticed they added “90% humidity control” to the label.  Yeah, right.  I thought.  I wish.  But, low and behold it worked!  I straighten my hair, but I run around at work and it was hot last week, so I get sweaty start to glisten and my hair wigs out.  Every day.  With this shampoo: straight as a board.  I thought it was a fluke.  I didn’t wash my hair and touched up my bangs with the flat iron the next day.  Hot again.  Still straight as a board.  Three more washes now, and now we have switched from hot/muggy to damp/raining and even though I run through the rain between buildings all day at work: straight as a board.  What a lovely surprise.  This is what it looks like…

It is still new; Target didn’t have the conditioner version yet, and I can’t find either one online to buy or link you to. 

There you have it.  My non-Thursday Latelies post about products I love today… which just so happens to be Thursday.  =)

fragments from this week

 

so far this week I have repaired and finished what I broke last week; the sweetest little pin cushion you ever saw in your life…

 

I told you so.  ;)

These little footed milkglass bowls (and a larger size as well) are at thrift stores pretty frequently… I am on them like a blood hound so I can make some of these for my sale.  This one is all mine.  That globe in the background; I got it at a yard sale for $1… a score for my sale?  Not so much, I made the mistake of putting it in my bedroom.  I think it has to stay.

In rare homeschool news, =) I came up with a daily schedule!  This is miraculous for me.  I got a curriculum and didn’t really love it, especially since we’re only in preschool.  Here is my format…

The letter craft looks like this today because I was lazy…

 

The idea is to familiarize the child with the shape of the letter. I usually do something like glue scraps of paper to fill in the letter, or something like using macaroni noodles to fill in the letter “M” for macaroni, or build a letter out of straight and curved lines.  When lazy = coloring it in works just fine. 

The word for the day was “good” so we sounded that out and he copied it down and drew a “good” thing; him sharing his helicopter toy with a friend.  =)

I also added in building.  Every day we are going to build with blocks, play dough, toothpicks and gumdrops, etc., focusing on all the letters for review.  Mark made some great letters…

O, A, M, T, P. 

Then of course reading. 

I even put the books on the wall in the homeschool area, and still forgot to do reading every day, so now I have it written down.  I need lists.  For vocabulary, I plan on just pointing out the meanings of words in the reading, as needed.

So that’s my new homeschool schedule.

In other random news… I got bright yellow rubber boots and I love them…

I even wore them to a wedding last weekend…

I happened to be shooting at the wedding and it happened to rain most of the day, otherwise that would have been super weird, instead of just weird.  =)  That photo of me is courtesy of my pastor, Ron Sallee.  Thanks, Ron!  I can’t wait to share the photos with you all; I am still sorting through about 700 images and editing.  Fun stuff!

Last but not least, my Shadow came back.  Almost a year ago, I leased out my horse, Shadow, because I wasn’t giving her the time she deserved.  But a couple weeks ago, the girl leasing her broke her knee and will not be able to ride again, so I am finding Shadow a new home again.  I had to share this shot from the other morning…

Peace!

new creations, a print, and a treat

 

Okay, so here are the new creations I mentioned in yesterday’s post…

Firstly, Leah showed me these beaded bracelets last time she visited, and I have wanted to make one ever since.  I had one pinned on Pinterest, and it linked to this tutorial.  I got ‘er done during an hour of streaming LOST...

I love it.  I never want to take it off and I want to make many more.  Leah, if you were going to have one which color/colors would you want the beads?  Hypothetically speaking, of course.  ;)

Secondly, how sweet is that little milk glass coffee cup pin cushion!?  I love it.  I love mixing vintage finds with modern fabrics.  I have another milk glass one in the works, but I had a little accident…

It needs a little super glue love, and then it will be the cutest stinking pin cushion you have ever seen in your life.  And that one, my friends, will NOT make it to the sale pile, let me just go ahead and admit that right now.  Well, of course it won’t because it is broken/repaired, but even before I broke it, I knew it would need to be mine.  In fact, I already moved my own personal pin cushion to the sale pile to make room for the sweet thing.  Must buy superglue.  And I am fiercely hunting for more of the footed milk glass bowls at thrift stores everywhere!

Oh, and I have had a little love affair with the quote “keep calm and carry on” for some time now.  I finally created a file I am happy with, and will offer it as a print at my sale and possibly in my {currently empty} Etsy shop soon…

Isn’t it fun?!  The crown was from an old English book.  LOVE IT.

Lastly, you need to make this.  Now.  Like Ryan says, they don’t look like much at first…

Oh, but they are much… so much!!!

I recommend making a double batch of sauce, and adding half of it with the bread when you bake it, and save half for drizzling on top when you serve them.  We called them Monkey Brains growing up, in youth group.  They take me back.  This is Pastor Ryan’s recipe {via PW} which is pretty close the recipe we used in youth group.  Make sure you have some people to help you eat them or it could be dangerous.  Very dangerous.

Peace!

thrift junky chronicles no. 13

 

Haha, can you tell I have been working a lot?  Now that the kids are back in school, I don’t shoot senior pictures in the mornings or midday anymore, so I hope I can get back into a most-days blogging groove again!  Today is attempt numero uno.

Some recent Goodwill finds…

I love collecting random juice glasses at goodwill.  They’re like $0.49, and I think it’s fun to have a variety. 

Also, I buy any silverware with the dot borders, that way mine all look like they match but I can spend $0.25 each, and not have to drop $30 on a set all at once.  Since I started doing this I don’t run out of silverware anymore! 

Also, I’ve had a few decent finds at the jewelry counter lately.  This time I got three bangle bracelets for $1.99, a yellow necklace for $3.99 and two wooden-bead blue and green necklaces for $4.99.  Not as cheap as I hoped it would be, but still cheaper than retail.  Oh, and the wooden ones – a best friend had them.  I put them in a cute dish when we organized her bathroom once.  She had them at our co-garage sale.  I didn’t see them.  She donated them to G-will.  I bought them.  She said, “Hey I like your necklaces, did I give you those??”  I said, “I got them at Goodwill, but I thought they looked like yours!”  There were originally three, but she kept one of them, so they must be hers!  True story.  Crazy!!!

Back to the finds… I like to look for bread pans and small baking trays; they’re good for food prep and organizing!

The weird test tube thingy was a shot in the dark at making a cute vase with my mattress spring from Farm Chicks…

It was a fail.  It was a good try though, right?  So close and yet… not close enough.  Maybe I will label it as a “wonky vase” and try to sell it.  ;)

I found a cute yellow vintage Pyrex dish (it was just sweet), and a stack of sweet little plates, straight from 1989.  Remember the pin cushion I made out of a bowl just like them here?  Yeah, had a project idea, went back for more, and these plates were the last of them, sadly.  I got them all.  And also one last candle stick I needed for the same project…

I made a couple sweet mini cake stands for my sale.  What do you think?  I am having trouble physically moving them to the sale pile, but I must.  Right now they are displaying two recent creations…  this post is getting too long and I should actually get out of my pjs sometime today, so I will share my creations with you tomorrow!

word up

 

A couple weeks ago a friend dropped these off for me…

I had seen some at Farm Chicks and also at a local shop, and was thrilled to have some!  I am pretty sure I got tendonitis washing them  and drying them all (it took like like two hours).  Now I am playing with them around the house…

So many options.  The eat one is funny because if you are too close to the cabinets, you can’t see the bottom line on the “E” and it turns into “FAT” which sort of also applies.  I think the wedding date will be the permanent fixture.  And the rest will go to my sale this winter. 

What would you spell???

iBaby

 

A few days ago, my friend Blanca decided it would be fun to share an iPod ear bud with Susie.  She loved it.  Yesterday she had to listen to the radio on my phone in the van; apparently the van radio wasn’t as cool as my phone.  And yesterday, us girls were in the kitchen, when Susie rushed in, repeatedly yelling, “MINE! MINE! MINE!” because she noticed in a split second that Blanca had the iPod.  In fact, I’m pretty sure she heard it from the garage. ;)

She is probably going to have a fashion blog by the age of 6.  Maybe it’ll help me out.

a coop, a rooster and a recipe

A while back I blogged about my husband making me do a little research on chicken coops before he let me go all out with my chicken farm idea.  Well that first coop that I toured was pretty much what I had in mind for my own, and the owner Dee Dee, was happy with it, so hubby let me go ahead and proceed with my plan.
I had it easy because my barn was recently vacated by my horse.  I had her for 18 years, but with the kids being the age they are, I really wasn’t getting to spend as much time riding as she deserved, so I leased her out to a girl who gives her plenty of love and attention.  So, that left my feed/tack room ready to be made into a chicken home.
Yesterday I cleaned the coop so it was a good time to share.  Here it is…
 
In case you are wondering why it says “ROW” behind that hen, it is because our barn is built out of repurposed lumber and those planks were actually stadium seats at a race track.  Now you know.
Anyway, here is the rundown on the chicken coop…
Bedding: I chose to use wood shavings, which are pretty affordable at about $8 a bag (one bag fills my coop) and last several months.  The hens are kept in for part of the day, so they will scratch around and mix their droppings in with the shavings, otherwise, the droppings would just sit on top and be stinky and messy.  An alternative is to manually turn and ‘stir’ the bedding every day.  The bedding makes great garden compost when it is time to change it out!
Feed: I have to admit I have not bitten the bullet and gone for organic feed yet – it is nearly twice as costly, and my hens have two acres to roam and eat, so I really feel like the layer feed is almost a supplement.  Still, I think I will research and try to find the organic feed more affordably.  I chose to go with a hanging feeder, which prevents the bedding and droppings from getting into the food.  I keep the extra feed in a garbage can with a lid to deter rodents.  I also have a large rubber dish to put fruit and veggie scraps in, so that whatever the ladies don’t eat doesn’t get mixed with the bedding, that way I can toss it out; also to keep rodents from coming around for free snacks.
Water:  As in Dee Dee’s coop that I toured, I chose to be a rebel and go with a water bucket.  The chicken waterers get full of bedding so quickly and you have to unscrew them to clean and refill them.  There are nice hanging versions like my feeder, but I am too cheap.   
Eggs:  Dee Dee gave me two extra milk crates that she had and I found one at a yard sale, so I used those for the laying boxes.  I secured two to the wall, to keep the eggs out of the reach of curious beaks, but left one on the ground in case the ladies didn’t like the high-rise nest boxes.  But the big Rhode Island Red climbed right in while I was taking pictures!  The egg in the pic is a fake egg to encourage laying in the nest box; she laid a nice brown egg after I left, with Mark watching. 
Perch:  I have access to the woods, so I like using natural branches for perches.  That is more comfortable for the hens than a square board, and doesn’t require sanding the corners down.
That is my coop.  I hope you weren’t all excited, expecting something like this.  I’m a little too redneck for that.  She sells those plans though, and if my hubby liked projects like that I might have had to go for it.
Okay, look what I discovered at the crack of dawn one morning last week… Do you notice a difference in these two hens?

Yeah, that’s because the she on the right is actually a he.  As in a rooster.  As in he crows at the crack of dawn.  Actually he makes strange dying animal noises at the crack of dawn; he’s still growing into his role. 

It is comical that this one turned out to be a male.  Chicks at the co-ops are all supposed to be hens, unless marked as “not sexed” meaning they didn’t separate the males from females and you have a 50/50 chance of getting a rooster.  I loathe interrupted sleep and so I was careful to only pick the from the selection of females.  Well this breed is called “Black Sex-Link” because, apparently, they are especially able to tell males from females at hatching?  Hmmm. 
Okay, on to the recipe.  I have had compliments on my Caesar salad, so I thought I would share my tips and a few special ingredients. 

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce
Parmesan Cheese (I like Frigo brand)
Lemon
Olives
Avacado
Fresh ground pepper
Dressing (LiteHouse is my favorite)
Croutons (these from Costco are the only good ones I have found!)

Directions:

I chop my lettuce pretty small.  I usually use about two hearts of romaine.
Then I grate my parmesan using a big grater, like you would for cheddar.  I think you taste it more that way, and other people have agreed.
I squeeze on the juice of about  a quarter to half of the lemon, depending on how big it is.  This time was about a quarter.
Then I chop the olives in half.  Yes, I know they come in a can already sliced but to me those ones are mushy.  Yes, I know I am crazy.
Then I chop up an avocado, unless my husband is eating with us, in which case I don’t because his throat will swell shut. 
I add about a quarter to half a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper.
A dollop of dressing, toss it up, top with some croutons, and there you have it!

And hey, if you end up with a rooster in your flock, you could always add some fresh grilled chicken!! 

fair is fair is fair

 

$18.50

Parking.  One corn dog – doughy.  One Baked potato with the works.

Really?  I even had a free pass for my entry and the kids were free.  I knew going in that it would be overpriced, it is fair after all, but I still had to do it.  It was just me and the kiddos, and we splurged because Ty was out dirt biking all day and we needed to get out of the house for my sanity and their safety.  ;)

Some imagery…

 

That was a unique walking, interactive coupon dispenser and billboard for the Reptile Man.

Critters…

Did you see what Mark was checking out?  Yeah, not the critters.  More on that later.

I am a mean mother – I walked the kiddos through the rides and took pictures but wouldn’t pay to let them go on any.

This one may be my favorite…

 

Children near meltdown.

The draft breed horses fill up a stall pretty good, with no room to move around, so the owners let them loose in the arena for some exercise.  They are gentle giants, such mooches for any loves they can get…

That woman is ducking because he was totally trying to get in her bag… wonder what kind of fair food she had stashed in there for later.  ;)

Tried to take a picture myself of Susie petting the giant…

Didn’t work with my fixed focal length lens.  But it does show the size of that horse’s nose compared to Susie’s pacifier and hand!  I tried to ask a person who did not speak my language to take a picture… focused on the background; me and Susie were totally blurry.  Then I decided to let Mark try.  He took a practice shot…

And said he could do it.  He got these for me…

Don’t worry, I wasn’t hanging out with that man with his shirt open – we were just petting the horse at the same time.

I took a second to show Mark the pictures he had just taken and had basically decided he was hired, and then I saw this…

Whoa, Mark, step AWAY from the camera!  I thought this wasn’t supposed to happen for like ten more years.  Lord help me.

Camera safely confiscated… one last shot of the Belgians, look how tall they are…

Those ladies cracked me up, checking out his pearly whites.  Actually I’ve seen many a horse’s teeth – not so pearly.  Or white.  Mostly green.  And stinky.

Anyway, that was fair.  Glad we went.  Have y’all been to any good fairs this year?