Thrift Store Finds... repurposing

one purple beanbag...$4

one square pillow-$.50

a little time with a large remnant of fabric I picked up for $1 

and wallah refurbished accents for the kids playroom.

Now we are ready to put them to use..

got to love some recycled love!

Thrifting Bounty

Cleaned the cupboards of our mismatched lonely glasses and on a thrifting stop, found some new glasses that make me smile.  The best part was that I managed to do this with a girlfriend!

Little Princess Mercy is loving her first pair of dress-up shoes.  Her new saying is...

"Mama, I'm FABULOUS!"

Indeed she is! 

God is good.

Hope you will join me in reading about how to be a better friend...check out yesterdays post for details. 

(I ordered my copy for just under $12 from Amazon).

For the Love of CLOGS!

I am a lover of clogs. 

I got my first pair when I was in the 2nd grade.  They were made of vinyl and were a lovely shade of purple.  Just one pair and I was hooked, I would choose a pair of clogs over any shoes;

though really I am a barefoot type of girl most moments of the day.

These are the sparkliest clogs I have ever owned. 

 Oh, all that glitters makes me smile.

And the BEST part is that I got them at a trip to Saver's (a huge thrift store). 

 They were all of $6.99 too!  Oh, happy day for Kimmie!

*If you were a shoe, what kind would you be?*

Thrift Store Bounty

Princess Mercy and I had fun at our local Saver's Thrift Shop. 

I am always so thankful for how God provides for our ever growing family.  This particular thrift shop is enormous, organized and clean!  It isn't too far from our house and it is very convenient to our wholesale food club (where we grocery shop). My family just loves shopping here and every once in a while my girlfriends and I find time to sneak out together for a thrifting night together!  My, how fun it is when we all get going through the store in search of the perfect deal!

I have made many friends of the staff, who are always so helpful and kind to me and my crew. (they just love our baby!)  I have been planting *seeds* too!  Not only do they know about my faith, our adoptions, our homeschool, but they are beginning to learn about a God who loves them too!

Keep your eyes open, you might find yourself a great deal, you might have the opportunity to make a new friend and you might be able to share the Gospel.  Really. 

Off to swim lessons...hope you have a wonderful day!

Homemaking Skills Revisited

Things around here have been crazy busy lately. We are moving at top speed.  Well, we were and then we got slammed by some *germs!*

 We have moved bedrooms recently, as the additional bedroom space was finished. Our two biggest moved to the new space, thus freeing up their old room for the younger girls to occupy.  Princess Sunshine (11) and Princess Giggles (8) moved into their bigger sisters old room.  It needed a little revamping, as they are girly-girls and wanted it to reflect their love of dolls and such.

Suddenly we needed new curtains!  The old British flags, that adorned the big girls room vanished with their mass exodus to higher ground.

We began with prayer and then ran to our local thrift shops.  Savers (a huge thrift shop chain) was having a sale a few weeks back and I scooped up a quilt for Princess Sweetness' top bunk.  I happened to find matching curtains in a different aisle...personally, I believe in the power of prayer. The little girls at our house were thrilled, as they had butterflies on them.  I spent a total of $15 dollars on the lot of bedroom goods. The Mama was very happy.

A little scrub in the tub, a run through the dryer and they were ready for a rumba with the much neglected iron.  Sweet Princess Sunshine was happy to iron them to perfection. She is happy to have a relationship with that iron, so unlike her Mama. 

They are excited on being in a new room and getting it ready for her coming Ethiopian sister! The baby's new phrase is, " (New sister's name) come, come!"

Oh homemaking bliss!

Thrifted Treasure

On our last weekend trip to our cabin in Vermont...we snuck out on Saturday to thrift in St. Johnsbury. There is the cutest little junk shop; filled with all sorts of goodies to discover. The shop is run by a man who has a gentle spirit and a great big evangelical heart! What wonderful treasures we have found on ALL of our visits.

The problem was, we only had 15 minutes before the store closed for the day. Luckily, I am *fast.*

Our Little Beauty was blessed to be the recipient of a new snowsuit, straight out of the 70's! Now that she is walking, I am certain that she will want to play outside in the white stuff!

But, let's not talk about the *white stuff* just yet...here in New England, we are hoping to have an Indian summer. I'll tuck it away until then, you'll come back to see her in it, won't you?

Thrift store treasure

Wee King Bonkey got a new winter coat, his oldest sister and I got a moment to run into our favorite Goodwill store and he won the prize this time. It is perfect and fits like it was made for him. Too cute. I love the thrift shop...today I think I am going to find a moment to escape to run to "The Barn."

The Barn is run by a church and is kind of like a thrift shop, it has been running since I was a kid. You might remember that I got a free dresser there a few weeks back. It will be shutting down until the spring, as New England barns get a tad bit cold here this time of the year. Need to get a quick fix that will hold me over until the robins come back in the spring.

The two babies (dolls) arrived this week. I found them on ebay, after looking through 3,000 dolls. I wanted dolls that looked like Africans, not dolls that had dark skin, but had all other features resembling Caucasians. I spent days on my search, but was blessed with these twins. My kids love them and have set them up in our living room with all the things a huge baby could need.

My thought was to prepare them for our upcoming arrival. But also, as my four wee ones also were adopted, it is helping them to understand how God brought them to us.

I do think it is important for little boys to have access to dolls. Don't stone me please. My sons didn't have a father for the first 3 or 4 years of their lives, they didn't experience what a father's role in parenting is. A loving father will hold his babies, a father will change diapers, a father will soothe the cries of his child and will rock them until peace comes to their little bodies, he will meet whatever need arrives, regardless of whether the mama is 'available.' I encourage my boys to have hands on with the baby dolls, to feed them a bottle, or push them in the stroller; as I see it as building blocks for their future fatherhood and the breaking off of the past to make way for a blessed, bright and beautiful future. Someday my daughter-in-laws will thank me and my grandbabies will walk fully under the Blessing.

A need to get OUT

Okay, I am taking a day to get out! I've got my comfy British shoes and just need to decide which bag to take...lately I have a fixation with vinyl...not sure where it came from. It seems to scream 'buy me, buy me!'

Oh, how I love the thrift store.

I have also taken a strong liking to old silverware. I find myself picking up 6 spoons here, a set of 4 old tiny forks there.

On Thursday I was at Goodwill and I found 4 old silver serving spoons. They were $2 a piece and I thought they'd be a fine addition, as it seems I am very low on serving spoons. Guess what, I got to the register and the girl asked me if I wanted the WHOLE basket of silverware for $5. This was a no brainer, as the spoons in my hand were going to total $8. She said she had planned to toss them when they came in, so if I was willing they could be mine. I ended up with probably 20 new pieces.

We had to rearrange the silverware drawer, now we have a little space for our unmatched stuff. My kids are giddy. They actually helped refurbish the drawer to make room. They will be perfect to take to the lake or a picnic and I won't lose sleep if one disappears. On second thought, I just might! ;-)

Eclectic, just the way I like it. Matchy-matchy is over-rated.

Have a lovely day yourself. Cheers mates!

Giving thanks and feasting!

I found this great old Tupperware container at the thrift shop. It was only $2.00 and it has already proven to be handy. My four youngest were thrilled to give it a trial run, you see all of the older ones plus Papa were at youth group. I was thinking how I could make my evening easier, by not cooking. Mama gave them a smorgasbord and were they happy...shortly 'dinner' was done and they were beaming at the new fun way to eat!

A little bit of recycled fun, did I mention that it also has a wonderful cover? Who needs plates, right! We're Greening up, didn't have to wash silverware, plates, and if you notice we didn't even use napkins...barbarians I tell you!

Happy, thankful barbarians though!