Packing Up

This post should really contain pictures of cardboard boxes, but that just isn't much fun. I'm tired of boxes and I still have a long ways to go. On Saturday we are moving to the rental house. I probably won't have everything packed by Saturday morning. I'll just have to continue packing while the large furniture is being moved. I've tried. It's just not going as quickly as I had hoped. I've had people offer to help, but that is just hard. First, I've just had to get a little done here and there. I've not had any long stretch of time to dedicate to packing. Also, I'm trying to sort as I pack - things that will stay in storage for three months (or more) and things that I will need at the rental. It's hard for someone else to do that.

And let's be honest....it is hard to do things that you just don't want to do. I am so sad about leaving this place. With each box packed it becomes more of a reality and quite frankly, I don't want it to be real. I hope the next family who lives here will be as blessed as we have been.

Forget the boxes for now, and take a look at these. I love old suitcases. They are great for storage and still look nice. The ones above have been in the sunroom/office. They hold school and office supplies.
I thought the names on these were fun.
I'm a little embarrassed by the picture below. Things need to be arranged a bit better and I know everything was dusty when I took the photo. Oh, well. I love these suitcases that serve as my nightstand. It is always fun when you can find a complete set. These were "leftover" from a fundraiser garage sale back in KS. Our campus ministry group had a sale. When I stopped by afterwards they were cleaning up and the suitcases were there. Can you believe nobody had bought them? They just gave them to me!
With the move I may not have a chance to blog again until the middle of next week. Please pray that the weekend goes smoothly (and I don't have any meltdowns). I'll be back as soon as I can.

Flashlight Tag

What is this, you ask? This is a 7-year old's elaborate map for a game of flashlight tag. It is all very well thought-out. He's good. He beats his 10-year old brother and 12-year old friend. We have a lot of trees ("the forest") behind our house. I personally don't like to go back there - too many creepy-crawlies. My boys go out in the cold and pitch dark and play flashlight tag. They have a blast! Another one of those things that makes me sad about leaving this place. I have to say, though, that I am glad I was a mean mom last night and wouldn't let them go out. It was cold and damp and I just didn't want to deal with it. Later I smelled a skunk right out in the back yard. Oh, my! I can't even imagine what I would have done if the boys would have been out there!

I made this card earlier in the month for my BIL Jim. Sorry, BIL Dan. Your card wasn't quite as creative as this one. Isn't that old vehicle registration cool? It was tucked inside an old book that I had. I took the photo of the old truck that had been put out to pasture. The card says, "No matter your age...you'll always be a classic."

I guess it's time for me to get Sweet Girl's feeding pump ready for the night. Last night I checked on her an hour or so after I put her to bed. She had managed to get "unplugged" so the bed was getting fed instead of her tummy. What a mess! Never a dull moment around here!

NEST

It is cold and drizzly today. I would love to curl up with a good book, but then who would cook supper, do the laundry, put the kids to bed, pack boxes....Guess the book will have to wait. I really don't have much to say today, but I hated that I hadn't posted anything since last Friday. Just thought I would share a couple pictures that make me think of Spring. The above photo is from right outside my front door. The funny thing is that on the other side of the door I still have my sled. Winter or Spring - kinda like the weather these days - you just never know.
Like always, sorry about the bad photo here. Not sure why I didn't turn the flash off. This is a card I made for a friend last spring. Yes, that is a real nest and real eggs. It is from my friend's front porch. Shortly after I took the photo the birds hatched and then flew away.

I better go work on supper. We are having Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup. Yum!

Sold!

It was only on the market for 2 1/2 weeks. This sweet little house only belongs to us for three more weeks. I'm sad. I know I should be happy. With the crazy housing market, who would have thought it would sell so fast. Hmmmm....maybe we didn't price it high enough. Too late now.

Since the closing is so soon and there is still nothing available in our new town, we have decided to rent a house here for three months. It just so happens that our church owns a rental. It really will be better to finish out the school year here. Then we can have more time to find a decent place to live there, get more information about the schools, etc.

Enough about that for now. In all the craziness I have still found some fun bargains lately.

I bought these wheels from an elderly lady who said they were from her grandmother's tea cart. I want to try to do something like this with them. I paid $3.50 for the pair.
At the same sale I bought this little night stand for $5. It is a nice piece except that it smells like cigarette smoke. I'm really hoping the smell will go away. Does smoke smell seep through paint? Maybe I could paint it. Doesn't really matter right now. It will go in storage until we find a new home.
All these stamps were $1. They were from a business and say things like "Received," "Paid," "Credit Me." Thought they might be fun to use on cards or something. The white bowl was 10 cents!
Found this wonderful Baby Bingo game at a garage sale. It didn't have a price on it (except for the original $1.39 sticker). When I asked the lady told me 5 cents. I just couldn't do it. Are you kidding me?! I paid her a dime instead and still felt like I was stealing from her! It has all the cards and some of the little baby bootee markers haven't even been cut apart. I was really wishing I had gotten to this sale earlier. Who knows what else this lady gave away!

The kids and I have a birthday party to go to. Then hubby should be home and I will hand the boys off to him for P.'s basketball game. It isn't until 8:00 p.m. so I will bring Sweet Girl home to bed instead of watching the game.

Have a great weekend!

Be My Valentine

Well, here is what I came up with for Sweet Girl's valentines. I never made valentines for the boys - they just got the cheesy boxed ones. I guess I wanted to make it special for my girl since she can't sit at the dining room table and write her name on each card. Nope. The boxed ones just wouldn't do.
Neither will a plain old shoe box covered in pretty paper. Sweet Girl needed something different. I bought this little purse at the thrift store today....
....and turned it into this! Isn't it a sweet little valentine card holder?

I suppose I should get off the computer. There is quite a bit of lightning outside right now. Don't want to get zapped!

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34

Valentine Ideas

Have you seen this adorable daisyd's paper? It says, "You're just the ticket." I am wanting to make Sweet Girl's valentines with this paper and some red tickets that I have. I just can't quite come up with how to put it all together. Any ideas?
This is the card I made for Hubby last year. I was watching a Best Buy commerical and they had taken their tag logo and made it into a heart. I immediately thought, "I can do that!" I just stitched the tags together with red thread.

I took the same heart idea and used it on this journal. This was actually a wedding shower gift, but could easily be used for a Valentine gift.

I'm going to see if I can get Sweet Girl to rest. Then I can rest, too. I don't sleep good anymore. I'm so tired, but I have to keep going. Three kids can't take care of themselves. {Sigh}

Tornado

Last night was a scary night. This tornado ravaged a town just 13 miles from here. At least four people lost their lives. Others lost their lives across the state of Arkansas. So much devastation! Please pray for all the families who have been affected by this storm.

The kids and I were just leaving Sweet Girl's therapy when the sirens started going off the first time. We went back inside the clinic and waited a few minutes until they stopped. Reports were that the funnel cloud was in the next county over. I decided to go ahead and make it home. It was pouring rain and very windy. Just as we were getting home the sirens went off again. This is probably about the time that the above tornado was wreaking havoc just a few miles away. We hung out in the bathroom for a while. Very few people have basements here. I was so shocked when we turned on the t.v. and realized how bad it was.

I am thankful that we didn't receive any damage, but am so sad for those whose homes and lives were destroyed. Again, please pray for them.

For the love of jars...

I love jars. As I am about to show you, I use them for many things. Not only are they useful, but I think they are beautiful. I never use a real vase. I always put flowers in a jar. My favorite is daisies in a blue Mason jar. It is a simple country look.

This square jar with the scuffed red lid holds my rice in the kitchen.
This one holds my collection of cookie cutters.
A peek inside my craft cabinet reveals jars with ribbon, lace and buttons.
Some Scrabble letters in an old coffee jar.
This is one of my favorite jar displays in my home right now.
Little bobbins of thread are nice and cozy in this jar in my bedroom.

A different kind of jar - a bell jar. These have become quite popular in decorating. I was excited to find this little one at the thrift store the other day. I need to find a special little something to put underneath it.

Now for the boring stuff. We made it through the first week of having Hubby down at his new job. It wasn't fun. I had sick kids. We had a crazy wind storm. It was the first week of having the house on the market. We are now starting the second week. I'm tired already. I don't like this "single parent" thing. We have to sell the house here and find something to buy down there. It could take awhile here because the market is pretty saturated. It could take a while there because the market isn't saturated - not much for sale at all.

I really want to keep my kids in school here for the rest of the year. That is a long time. My boys will adjust to a new school. My Sweet Girl has "special needs." She has a 1:1 aide at school. Our school has been wonderful with her. You can't just walk into a new school and enroll a child like Sweet Girl. It takes a lot of preparation, IEP meetings, possible hiring of new staff. It is complicated. I'm not ready for that again. I'm not ready to hand my Sweet Girl over to complete strangers. I don't know what to do.

Sorry. I didn't realize how "down" I was until I started typing. Didn't mean to drag ya'll into it. I'll sign off for now. Time to get the kiddos some supper.

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 2 Cor. 4:7