Down time...

John took my lovelies to Indy over the weekend to see my parents before they head off to Ireland for 7 wks. (I couldn't go because I had to work) So I got some down time. Bless his heart but he cleaned and did laundry and even put my bike where I could get it in and out easily by myself so that I would relax and maybe read, watch movies and maybe even craft...but alas I found all asundry things I could clean and weed and get rid of while the ladies were not here to supervise. I finally got around to getting shoe racks for their closet and got all the shoes sorted. This was a major achievement! They have a lot of shoes, we have several folks who hand down to us so we have sizes ahead as well. And two ladies sharing a closet eventually something has to give. So I vacuumed and scrubbed the floor and went through old toys and weeded down the dress up clothes from three bins to two...and I felt like I had really accomplished something!! And my 7 year old was even impressed! (you know it had gotten bad when it was her who had said I wish we had a shoe rack). Then I hit a few yard sales with my thrifting buddy Kate. I didn't find huge things but what I did were uber cheap and made me very happy to look at...I got a leap pad book (why they have stopped producing this wonderful item I do not know!) for .25 new in the package. I got the lovely basket pictured for .50. I got the stars (I have a thing for stars) for .50 I got a brand new package of white taper candles for .25. I got the cool green peg thingie for .10 and the uber find was the lovely baby quilt with hand embroidered squares for .25. There was even a little bat on it which I thought was lovely!! She took me out to lunch after and got me home in time to go to my massage! I must say I didn't realize how badly I needed one of these! It had been nearly a year and I was unable to completely turn my neck to the right to look over my shoulder (work stress has been really high!!) and when the lady was done I had no pain and full movement! Blessings to all masseuses!! You are miracle workers!! After this I got to go home and snuggle up to watch my netflix movie it was The Things We Lost In the Fire. I thought it was quite good and really enjoyed the cinematography! Then I tidied and got some snacks ready for guests set up some candles in the backyard poured myself a gin and Squirt and had a great dancing type evening at home with friends and neighbors. And although I did not craft or ride like I was supposed to it was a good weekend and it was even better to get the gang home last night! I managed to get today off so I could have some time with them before Bronwyn heads back to school tomorrow! So more photos later but there it the update!

Lamp!!!!!!!

Ok my friend Kate would tell you I might have a tiny little problem with not coming home with a new lamp...I may have a few that I have not yet found a place for nor a shade for...but this time I found a lovely one much like new the shade even lacked dust (might as well be new if there is no dust in my book!) And my little yard sale find was all of 2 dollars!! And this one I found a place for!! I love yard sales and thrift stores!!

Thrifting...

So even though my head may very well explode, (did I mention even my teeth hurt???) I ventured out in the world yesterday. I met my lovely friend Gloria with hopes of looking at rocks, yeah we like rocks and stones a lot!!, but the little shop was closed so we went and had tea and browsed at lovely books, well I should say drooled over lovely books! Once we had chatted, teaed and meandered appropriately, I realized I had only been out of the house an hour...so what else might I get into while out in the world....hmmm....the Salvation Army was having their re-grandopening....they recently added an entire extra shopfront onto their space all of it supposed to be women's clothes, I would prefer housewares and bric brac myself but they didn't ask me!

So I toddled over to have a poke around. They gave out blue tickets when you walked in for drawings and such....so I immediately immersed myself in women's pants. For some reason I have very few pants that fit...I have hundreds of tops and cardies but not much to rotate through the lower half...and as is per usual I tried on 5 pairs to find one pair of jeans!! Oh and let me say I was not impressed that the store that used to be half the size used to have 3 fitting rooms and now the mega store has one...they said they would like to not have any...ugh...so pants become a gamble at the Sally! Which I wouldn't mind if they weren't sometimes trying to charge 5 dollars a pair...and they weren't so surly...very disgruntled employees at our Sally!! I dug some more and found a cool embroidered doiley thingie with a flamingo on it, a couple of tank tops ( I believe in layers!) and of course another cardie!! (I think I have a problem, do they make a cardigans anonymous????) Well I was there long enough to be present for one of the drawings!! And as a shock to myself, I won!! I won a 50 dollar gift certificate!!! That is a lot of shopping at the Sally!! So one good thing came from my wandering...but then I was really tired so I went home to snuggle my lovelies and read bedtime books and curl up, once again, on my couch.

Oh, my little duckie above was a complete impulse purchase at a yard sale last summer. For some reason I had to have him and at 1.50 I didn't deny myself. He sat in the kitchen waiting to be worked into some shelf or area of the home, and Himself must have gotten tired of him there because I came home one day to find him on a ledge by our side door... I was sure I would move him, but you know he has been great to see as I come and go (especially after an icky day at work). His goofy little colorful self really picks me up and makes me smile, so 1.50 worked out to be really cheap therapy!! Who knew????

Ok, guess I need to get ready for work...and it is snowing yet again!!! Sigh....