These shoes....

...were made for walkin'. And they've been walking about an hour a day since the beginning of December. It's not quite every day. Monday through Friday with some occasional missed days for appointments, subbing, sick kids, etc.

I had a physical in late November. I found out I was overweight (okay, I already knew that) and had high cholesterol. Way too high for a 34 year old. Obviously, part of that is a weight issue, but it is also heriditary. The doctor said he would give me three months to lower it or he would put me on medication.

I have a friend who I meet with each week for prayer. We decided to start walking together. It really has been wonderful. She is like a mentor to me. I still have young kids. Hers are out of the house and married. While I am raising my kids, she is taking care of aging parents. We are similar in some ways and different in others, but we have become close friends. The friendship started with our prayer group. The walking is just an added bonus. As we walk we share frustrations, struggles, joys, recipes, decorating ideas....You name it, we probably talk about it!

I don't yet if my cholesterol has been lowered. I do know that my heart has been strengthened by friendship.

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4

C's

Our last name starts with "C". This collection started with the C that I decorated. I've shown it to you before. It just sort of grew from there.
I found the porcelain ball at Kirkland's. I think I paid around $1 for it. I have it sitting on an old spool of black thread. Next to it is a rug insert. You know, one of those rugs outside your front door. You could personalize them with your initial. Well, at Lowe's the other day they didn't have the rugs, but they had these little guys on clearance for 82 cents. It adds some texture, don't you think?
This card is from an old Probe game. I've also stuck a C stencil in here since I took the picture.
The large C with the cut-outs also came from Kirkland's. They have something similar at Hobby Lobby. The glass came from Goodwill.
It is such a fun little collection. Kind of like saying, "Hey, our name starts with C and we're proud of it!"

"God is all strength for his people, ample refuge for his chosen leader; Save your people and bless your heritage. Care for them; carry them like a good shepherd." Psalm 28:8-9

I'm not sure if that is a good scripture or not. I was trying to tie the last name and the heritage together. Does that make sense? You see, I love Stacey's blog. She has a great sense of humor and she always ends her post with a scripture that somehow ties in to what she has written. I love to see what scripture she is sharing each day. I'm going to try to do that more often.

I need to go for now. I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend.

Vintage Aprons

I'll start with the fun stuff and then get on to the boring everyday stuff. Remember earlier in the month when I showed you the Christmas aprons? Well, now I want to show you my "collection" of vintage aprons. I really don't have that many. I don't buy every apron I see. I usually pick them up at the thrift stores for $1 or $2. Or I take them from my mom's house....

...like this one. Had to have the roosters! The lighting isn't great, but can you see how the orange gingham matches the orange stripe in the feed sack? I love it when things like that "accidentally" happen.
The little black one with the yellow flowers also came from mom's. And just in case you were wondering - I didn't steal them. She actually gave me a bunch of things to sell in my antique booth. There were several aprons in the box. I picked out a couple of my favorites. She doesn't mind that I kept them. Really.

I just recently found out that the stitching on the green gingham apron (and the roosters) is called "chicken scratch." I don't remember where I learned that, but it may have been at The Apronista. That is a fun little blog for apron lovers.

Here are a few more. These colors really don't go anywhere in my house, but I just think they are fun. The sheer apron on the right is not the typical style I go for. That one is special because it belonged to my Grandma. I remember her wearing it when we would go to their house for Sunday dinner. Good memories.

Now for the boring stuff. I got my house cleaned yesterday. It's the first time I've ever paid someone to clean for me. Not that I'm against that, believe me. If I could afford it I would do it every week. Have I ever mentioned that I hate cleaning? I'm sure I have. Anyway, they were here for a loooong time. They did a good job of cleaning. There is just one problem. They didn't put things back where they were. All my shelves are in disarray. The things on top my cabinets aren't quite right. The trashcans were moved. I now have to go from room to room and rearrange things. Oh, well. At least they are clean.

The realtor is coming on Friday morning. I hate that, but I guess it will be good to just "get it over with." I'm nervous about how long it will take to sell. Or will it sell quickly and we will be without a place to go? (I doubt that.) What if we can't get enough $ out of it? The biggest worry - keeping the place clean. Have I mentioned that I hate to clean? Oh yeah, just did that. Now the three kids and I will have to keep the place looking nice all the time. Not gonna be fun!

The Problem With Thrifting

The cleaning and getting the house ready to sell is not going very quickly. It is just so hard to get motivated when it is not something you want to do. I love this place. When we were moving here from KS the realtor emailed me pictures of this house and I immediately knew this was "our place." It isn't perfect. We could use a bit more space. We need a bedroom downstairs for Sweet Girl. But, oh, there is so much to love. The front porch. The view. The "forest" that the boys spend hours in. The sunroom. The wood floors. The fireplace.

Got a little sidetracked there. Back to the title of this post. I have been getting a little "clearing out" done. As I get a few boxes together, I make a trip to the thrift store to donate the things I don't want to move. The problem is that I can't make a trip to the thrift store without actually shopping. No way can I just drop a few boxes off, get my receipt and drive away. So.....I go inside. I'll only be a few minutes. I probably won't buy anything. I just want to look.

Yesterday I bought this sweet little needlework piece. I love the egg basket.

And I bought this platter. It has some crazing, but it is so pretty.

I am buying things that I will have to pack and move, but I just can't help it. In my defense, I traded out the needlework piece for something else. I put the other piece in a box to donate. Which means I will have to make another trip to the thrift store. It's a vicious cycle!

I've had this for awhile, but I don't think I have blogged about it. When we decided to do the sports room for the boys I thought it would be fun to have some old pennants. I started looking each time I went shopping. My heart starting racing as I saw one peeking out from a pile. I could tell it was old, not a replica. Yeah! I pulled it out was quite surprised when I read it. Maybe not quite what we were looking for. Poultry judging is not exactly a sport. For $1 I brought it home anyway. Goes great with my chicken-themed kitchen!

Gotta run for now. I'll keep you updated on the cleaning (and the thrifting).

The Sports Room

My boys are 10 and 7. For years, they have had a cowboy room. We decided awhile back to make a change. The room is now a Vintage Sports theme. I've been picking up things here and there to use in the decorating. It has been fun. I worked on the room this week. It is still a work in progress. The funny thing is, we are getting ready to put the house on the market. I thought about holding off on the decorating, but then decided to go ahead with it. It will look much better when people look at the house. The boys were very excited to come home from school the other day and see the progress that I had made.

This piece of furniture came from a discount furniture store. It had doors and the front that were damaged. I paid $40 for it and brought it home and just took the doors off. It is solid wood and very heavy. It works great for a "desk" for the boys, but I can also envision it in other places in the house. Wouldn't it be cute with a fabric "curtain" across the front? Might be fun to paint it someday, too.

The locker baskets are perfect in this room!

Every great locker room has a chalkboard, right? (Excuse the clutter in the corner. I told you this was a work in progress.)

My friend gave me this large picture. It looks almost like an I Spy picture and it is all vintage baseball things. She also gave me the bat and glove. Thanks, Molly!
These are the lockers I bought at the same auction where I got the locker baskets and chalkboard. Love 'em!
Some thrift store finds to add some decorative touches.
I bought this picture for $5 at a garage sale. The "L" came from an antique store. It is from an old letterman's jacket. I'm on the hunt for a "P" but haven't had any luck so far.
This shelf still needs some help, but I needed to fill the space for now. The brackets are left from the cowboy room. They had a piece of barnboard on them for the shelf, but now it is just a plain board. It works for now.

Well, I need to get off the computer. I hope everyone is having a good week. It's half over!

Virtual Thrift Shopping - What I found!

These are my thrift store purchases from last week. Too see more great finds from other shoppers make sure you go here.

Battered Women's Shelter Thrift Store - 50 cents

This is for my boys' vintage sports room.

Battered Women's Shelter Thrift Store - 50 cents each.

I plan on spray painting these keys black. I think they will make fun wall decor. They are metal and the smaller one is about a foot long.

Marva Thrift Store - 50 cents.

I'm just using these as an example, but the complete alphabet was in the set.

Aren't they great stencils?!

Marva Thrift Store - 50 cents.

My kitchen is chickens/roosters, so I couldn't resist this sweet little measuring cup. Sure wish I could find a set of them. I'll have to keep checking back. You never know!

Marva Thrift Store - 50 cents.

Okay, this is actually a picture frame. I stuck the postcard under there just to get a better picture. Not sure if I will use it as a frame or just a little tray.

Marva Thrift Store - 29 cents.

I love writing paper even though I don't write on it as much anymore. I just like this little tablet.

Goodwill - 50 cents.

These are small file dividers. They will be fun to use in papercrafting.

Battered Women's Shelter Thrift Store - $2.00 (The most expensive item of the week!)

Hard to tell by the picture, but this is a pretty large dish. I will put it away until next fall.

Okay, that is it! I hope you enjoyed your virtual thrift shopping trip! I think it was fun! Now I've got to get the kiddos ready for school. Have a great day!

Virtual Thrift Shopping

This past week I somehow came across this fun idea! The idea was to thrift shop throughout the week and then post your finds. Tomorrow is the big day! Be sure to stop by on Monday so you can see my goodies!

Randomness

Is that a word? Randomness? Hmmm.....well, it is my word for today. Thought I would do a post, but I really don't have a specific topic to blog about.

Here is Sweet Girl and her Grandma (Hubby's mom). She made Sweet Girl this cape for Christmas. It is so nice because we can slip it on while she is in her stroller/wheelchair. It was such a pain to try to get a jacket on her while she was strapped in to her chair. Now we don't have to mess with that.
I made this card a while back. I don't think I have shared it before. You can "click" on it to see it better. The bird image and scripture are from some notecards I bought at a garage sale. Speaking of birds, a friend from church just gave me this huge Audubon book - hundreds of beautiful birds! The book is falling apart so it will be great to use in some projects.
A birthday card I made just before Christmas. And speaking of Christmas....if you usually receive a Christmas card from me and are wondering why you didn't this year, it is because I didn't get any sent out. Too much craziness (more on that at the end of the post).
Is it an illness of some sort if you buy a box of paperclips at the thrift store because.....

...they have a beautiful patina?! These aren't the usual shiny silver. They are a beautiful brownish copper. I like them. Does that make you worry about my mental state?

Actually, my mental state might be questionable lately. I mentioned Christmas cards earlier. Well, right before Christmas my husband accepted a new job, in a new town. I'm struggling with this one. I'm not ready to leave this place. Anyway, when I should have been writing the annual holiday letter and addressing envelopes, all I could think about were the upcoming changes. I've decided to postpone the letter until I know more about the move. That way I can update everyone on our new address, etc. Right now the plan is for Hubby to start the job at the end of this month. He will live in an apartment on campus and the kids and I will stay here and try to get the house sold. I really don't like to talk about it, so that is all I will say for now. I'll share more as I can.

Well, the guys are off to a Harlem Globetrotters game. Sweet Girl and I are home alone for the evening. She's not happy right now. I think she is tired. So am I. I think I will go snuggle with her on the couch for awhile. It will do us both some good, I'm sure.

Snow Much Fun

I finally got all of the Christmas decorations put away today. That always takes way too long! Doesn't help that I basically just sat around all week feeling lousy. I had to break down and call the doctor yesterday. It's the first time in at least four years that I've had to do that. Now hopefully the antibiotic will do its job. Please pray that the rest of my family stays healthy. So far, so good!

I thought I would share some of our snow pictures from Christmas. God blessed us with safe travels - we were able to avoid driving during the worst of any of the storms. The boys were so excited to see the snow. Just doesn't happen here in AR much.

This is the snowman that P. built while in KS. I love the pine needle hair!

I had trouble getting good pictures on this day in CO because it was still snowing so much. It was pretty wet and I was afraid I would ruin my camera. Notice that L. is wearing his "all-season goggles." (See this post also.)

Have you ever tried to take pictures of kids sledding? I end up cutting the sledder off, not getting the sledder at all and just having a pure white picture, or I have those blurry "in motion" pictures.

I suppose I should get back to putting my house back together. I said earlier that I had gotten the Christmas things put away, but I have not gotten the "regular" things put back out. That always takes way too long also. Sigh!

Aprons for Christmas

My mom sewed aprons for all her granddaughters (except for the baby) for Christmas. They turned out so cute!
Here are my two oldest neices. Aren't they beautiful?
My Sweet Girl and her apron.

Now I want an apron. I actually picked out fabric while I was at mom's. I'll be expecting one for my birthday in March. Thanks, mom! I actually told her she could sell these things. Aprons are so popular right now.

Oh, do you remember this post about all the goodies I brought home from mom's this summer? Well, right before we traveled out there for Christmas she called to see if I could bring some of the rick rack back to her. It takes a lot for the aprons and her stash was quickly dwindling. Now I will have to be on the lookout for more.

I guess that is all for now. I'm still not feeling real great, but I have lots I need to do today. I better get busy.