She's Thrifting Again

I wasn't even at the thrift store and I found this bargain. 

I was having lunch with 2 of my grandsons one day at their school (they have that almost every month) and it was also Book for a Buck day.....of course the boys wanted to buy books. I love books so I always look too. This oversize Norman Rockwell book caught my eye, I thought maybe there is something inside that I can tear out and frame. After looking at it I decided that I don't think I can wreck it. There are a couple of prints that are made to be taken out, but not exactly what I was looking for, so it will remain intact (at least for now). It's big, it's heavy, it was $1. I checked ebay and the cheapest I saw it selling for there was $14.99 on up to $49.99. I just picked it up because I like his prints.

Several days ago when I was in the thrift store I found ANOTHER purse....I know I don't need anymore! But it was a Vera Bradley.....and I love those...but won't pay full price for a quilted floral purse...too trendy.  But could I resist this adorable Mandy purse with 7 inside pockets, 1 outside pocked, zipper closure, and just the perfect size??? NO! I love it, love all the inside pockets for organization. If I ever do buy a Vera Bradley purse this will be the one. After I got it home I noticed that one of the handles is showing some wear, I was so excited to find it and had limited time so I didn't notice it in the store. I'm not sure what can be done about it, but for $1 I'll just use it for now. The other defect is that is smells of someone else's perfume, I can take care of that a lot easier than cigarette smoke odor.

Are you a Vera Bradly fan? Do you own any of their purses, totes, luggage? 

Do you own any Thirty One items? What do you think of them?

Thanks for stopping by.

I Have A Picture, But What Should I Write About?

I was fooling around with the computer last night (when I should have been downloading photos) and decided that I wanted to add text to my photos so I googled the topic and found this website. I took this photo yesterday morning and covered up the  ugly windows with words on my first attempt. I think I am going to like this!!! 

It is really easy, just download your photo and type the words. I had to compress my photo first. I opened my photo in my Microsoft Office software (use what your normally use), under picture compress is at the bottom and I chose web page. Maybe I could do the same thing with one of the photo programs I already have, haven't looked for it though. 

I just thought it would be a fun tip/site to share.

These are our  2 youngest granddaughters, I call them 'the little girls'. They are 5 and only see each other once or twice a year. They loved the make up!

Showing off their Rudolph candy bars. The boys are brothers. 

Miss M loved her Flipeez hat and wouldn't take it off. I guess I missed the shot with the tail up. 

There's a lot of family stress here with my step-son, prayers for his family would certainly be appreciated!

Yesterday I did not leave the house, I had a very lazy day....I DID get my kitchen and living room back in order and most of the laundry done. I've been craving a day to just be alone.

Today I think I'll tackle some of the mess in my craft area. I have some Christmas cards I am going to finish as long as the parts and pieces are still out. 

Tomorrow I am going to see 2 more of my grandkids. 

Blended families don't always blend so well. 

Have a GREAT weekend! I know some of you are celebrating Christmas this weekend. 

Thoughts on Thursday

Only in WI? I'm not sure, have you seen a sight like this any place else? Saw the tent and lawn chairs sitting in someone's back yard on the way to my granddaughters Christmas concert last week. This tent has been up since late summer, I've seen it several times when I drive to Appleton or my daughter's and kept wondering when they'd take it down.....still wondering. So I'm guessing they do not have this tent set up for Christmas guests?????

 I guess I really shouldn't be talking though.......our hose is still coiled up outside on the hose reel on the side of the house. I guess it is my job to bring it in...........I usually do but hubby had been using  it often so I left it for him to take care of. Have I mentioned he more of a condo owner type of guy than a stand alone home owner type? 

Random thoughts:

1. If you don't send Christmas cards anymore do not feel like you have to mail me one after I've mailed one to you. It's ok, next year I will know that you don't do cards. I know a lot of people have stopped mailing cards. My hall wall use to be full of cards, this year I have only one tiny portion covered, and have only 3 hand made cards........one is from my grandson. 

2. If the snow keeps up like it has been I don't know what we are going to do with it.....we got about 8" on Sunday on top of the 3" we already had and more on Christmas eve. We desperately need a January thaw!!!

3. Christmas is over......and a Norman Rockwell holiday it was not. Family stress and drama....sigh...for the most part it was good, but one selfish person with a 'poor me' attitude, decided not to show and is hurting a lot of people who care about him. The positive that may come from that negative is that one person may see the good in another person, MAYBE!

4. On the up side, the very UP side.......my 5 year old granddaughter graciously thanked me today for the matching slippers. .....remember I gave my grandson slippers that didn't match, they weren't even the same size. 

I should be off today but my co-worker took a day of vacation so I'm off to work. I don't have any shopping to do anyway. 

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Some Christmas Activities

I've been running myself ragged (or it feels like it) and I still can't sleep. To be honest I will be so glad when Thursday comes and I can 'relax' at work. I didn't do nearly as much as I usually do and I am still not ready for Christmas. 

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family yesterday at my sisters. My sister and her family, my daughter and her family, hubby's daughter and her family, us and our 3 grandsons. It was a nice small group to visit with. The kids are all good and had their own space in the basement to hang out. 

This is my daughter and her 2 girls. They just happened to sit on mom's lap and I saw the photo op! And...............Walgreen's was offering a free 8 X 10 yesterday so I ordered one for them. 

I attended some concerts, This is J who spends a lot of time with us. 

One of our other grandsons had a reading part. 

I also went to thi ssweet  little girl's concert. Afterwards I had lunch with her parents and other grandma.

 Our oldest grandson wanted slippers. I got the ones he wanted on one of my first shopping trips. He is a very fine young man. He's been involved in tae kwon do for years and just started wrestling this year. He thanked me for the gifts.

We are in the middle of snowstorm 'Alice', fortunately for me I din't have any plans to go anywhere, except for church and that has been cancelled. Today is for cleaning & straightening up, writing out my list of last minute 'to dos'....and wrapping after grandson J goes home. 

BTW did you notice anything odd? 

I posted this photo of my grandson holding his slippers on facebook and no one noticed....

see it yet?

We all laughed so hard at my sister's.....

the slippers are NOT a matching pair....

I got them at Kohl's, one was shown on the outside of the box and the other was inside. I didn't open and pull it out, I just assumed they were the pair that was shown on the outside and the size was as stated.  

Well......the one that was showing is not even the right size.

The receipt is going in the mail tomorrow......

I hope they see the humor in it when the 'pair' is returned. 

My daughter is a scrapbooker too....so this might be in the pages of Christmas 2013.

I probably won't be back until it is over and I can just sit and do nothing.........off to pick up a few things for grandson J gets up and wants to play a game or something. 

I do feel bad for hubby today - he's working 12 hours and then gets to come home to mounds of snow and clear our driveway and corner lot. Although sometime the neighbor does the front of the house.

Almost Christmas!

 The tree is up.

It doesn't have a star, nor  is there a tree skirt...these things will come....

When I am home I leave the lights on all day.

 This year I used anything that is not an angel or a Santa. 

No bows, ribbon,  garland, or tinsel....do you think I used enough balls?

The pink & greenish ornament in the center is vintage, it was my grandma's. 

Some of the ornaments are hand made, some are gifts, and some I just like.

I still have to hide the pickle!

 Another one of my grandma's ornaments near the bottom. 

Today I went to the winter concert for 2 of my grandsons....but I forgot to put the memory card in my camera. I have a dumb phone and don't use it for photos. I  always have my camera...usually I have a dead battery...so I made sure it was charged....but forgot the memory card..... maybe I need a new memory card???

I was able to take 2 photos of each boy. 

I better put the memory card in NOW so it's ready for Saturday's concert....I have to leave early for that one!

Do I Really Need Another Purse?

The answer is no........but read on.......I like going to our small St Vinnie's because I can look at everything in about 1/2 hour unless I stop to talk to someone. I do check out almost everything, I speed check some of the men's stuff and kids stuff, and avoid baby things. One never knows what's waiting , it might be something you didn't know you 'needed'. Sometimes I'm almost out of the door and I remember what I was looking for, so I have to backtrack to see if it's on the shelf, sometimes it is...sometimes not. The other day as I was browsing the purses I touched one that felt soft, like real leather. If I buy any more purses it needs to be something I really love and good quality. This one was a nice size and a Tignanello handbag. I know they are sold on one of the television shopping shows. It was in good condition and I liked the look of it..... so....it.... came home with me. I paid $1 for it.....the one here is selling for more. Mine has a little wear around the magnetic closure on one side. I'm a happy camper though. I like a little larger purse for work because I often carry my Nook with me. This one will work for the Christmas concerts and lunch I am attending, it's quality but not brand new. For some odd reason I like things that are broken in and don't shout 'NEW'.

I guess I just needed a little break from Christmas stuff. 

Last night I rode around with some friends to see Christmas light displays, we went to 3 places and I know I want to take my grands to 2 of them!

Today I am going to the concert of my 2 grandsons that live nearby and then I'm going to finish my Christmas shopping!   YAY!!!!

Stepping Back Into Time

Saturday afternoon I went with a (very small) group from our church to  Pinecrest Historical Village to get a glimpse of what Christmas was like 100 years ago. We've been having a really cold spell along with some lake effect snow so I wasn't sure that I wanted to go....but when I say I am going to do something I do it (94% of the time). There were only 2 cars going and I was driving one of them. Naturally the country roads were a bit slippery so I was pretty slow, I didn't care if a couple of cars passed me.

No, this wasn't the road.....one of the paths we walked on in the village.

I wasn't planning to take my grandson, but his mom called in the morning and asked if I had plans....to make a long story short J wanted to go along, so I swung past his house and picked him up. Tapping out a morse code message was his favorite part. 

 In the cheese factory we were given a small container of sweet cream that we could churn into butter by shaking. 

Deb, grandson J, and Carolee paused from  their "shake, shake, shake....shake your booty" for a photo. After about 30 minutes of shaking we had a small ball of butter inside our containers.

Pretty as a postcard?

 Yes, I think this would be a good post card too!

This tree, decorated with mittens, was inside one of the buildings.

 Inside the bar room,

the doctor and dentist were upstairs.

Don't you just love these old desks?

Old lunch boxes.

Notice the cup on the top of the lunch box on the top shelf. 

Another postcard image. 

Entrance to the tavern, doctor, & dentist.

In-spite of temps in the 20's it wasn't very cold. The lack of wind had a lot to do with that.

I would have liked to walk around and go inside more of the buildings but J got bored and wanted to go home. He was great for quite a while but then......

The good news is I got my tree up today!!!! One step closer to being ready for Christmas......

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by. 

I'm A Copycat

They say 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Last friday, at the Wonder of Christmas Nativity display, I saw this and knew I had to copy it. (I don't have a good imagination, but I can copy.)

I knew I had the manger scene for my Silhouette Cameo.

Thursday I looked at my small thrift store and found an appropriate frame (a God thing???). 

After dinner I set up my Cameo and cut the scene out. 

Here's my take, what do you think?

The frame isn't as nice, but what do you expect for .25?

To be honest, it was a real pain in the patootie to peel and glue on those tiny letters. 

The picture is 5 X 7 and the still seek is very thin. 

What's nice is that I could use the manger scene on a card (and I do have the word stamp) or I can enlarge it to make a larger picture.

The weekend is here.................what will it bring????

Snow is predicted for our area.

More Christmas Cards

Monday afternoon I ventured out in the FRIGID weather to the Stampin' Up Stamp-a-long that my good friend has every month. This is the only time I get to make cards so I try to go every month. 

This first card is a gift card holder........they certainly come in handy at Christmastime. 

It's made with the envelope punch board, which is kinda new and I haven't gotten the hang of it yet.

Traditional baby Jesus card made iwth punches...and don't ask which ones.

This Happy New Year card looks much better in person. It might come in handy if you didn't get Christmas cards out. Just sayin'......

Cute snowman card!

Nope, I not done shopping or decorating. I hope to get my tree up this weekend and get my shopping finished and wrapped net week. Well, I pretty much have to, eh?

Thoughts On Thursday

What do you see? 

I picked up this scrap of paper from my desk and was going to toss it in the wastebasket and took one look and then pinned it on my bulletin board. I just like it and will keep it up for a while...maybe until I retire in the spring.

The other day I was talking to a friend and said "Maybe you could...." and she replied that she had the same thought the day before. Without going into detail  I'll just say we decided that it was a 'God thing', not just a coincidence. Whether it works out or not is not up to us.

A family member is hurting and depressed and it really makes me sad to know that other family members seem to be undermining this person, not intentionally...but some people just don't have common sense or maybe the word I am looking for is compassion. On the other hand I believe a person has to not only want but to be willing to work hard, not give up, make an effort, and take charge of your life....but that's just me.....and it's easy for me to say when I am not in that position.

Earlier this week hubby told me that he'll probably be working the next 10 days straight, 12 hour days. He's gotta work when he can....$ is always good! Of course anything at his company can change without notice.

Oh, I almost forgot....the piece of paper I tacked on my bulletin board looks like......a heart to me. I also saw a ghost in it later.....but the heart popped out on me. Yea, I know, I'm just a 'simple simon'. It works for me!!!

The Wonder of Christmas - His Name is Called...

Friday after work a good friend and I went to see the annual nativity display at a local church. We've been going to it for the past 3 years. 

This year's theme was His Name Is Called. The many names of Jesus were on the walls and Bibles were opened to verses where some of His many names were written.

We sat down and listened to the music for a bit before we walked around and looked at the many, many, many nativities. 

Some of the old German prayer  books and Bibles that were tucked in with the nativity scenes. 

It's not just a bunch of nativity sets on tables.....

it's the lighting, flowers, greens, pine cones, and other special touches that these ladies use.

This set has scripture written on the figures.

Soft set - kid friendly display

A tiny nativity in the NOEL on the Bible. 

A few of the nativities we remember from previous years, but many were new to us.

This stained glass set was new. 

Actually MANY years ago I took a stained glass class and made a set similar. It was my first attempt and is falling apart so I don't set it up anymore. MAYBE someday I'll redo it.

The set below is carved out of coal. It was purchased in West Virginia. 

I like the colors and the animal depiction in the one below.

Tables and tables of displays. 

Whimsical and fancy.

This set is made from real cookies and is a couple of years old.

I laughed when I saw this small set in a TV.

And last,  but not least.....can you see the nativity in this butterfly picture????

Look closely....all the characters are there....I did find them. 

Hint - look at the white spaces....

See it yet???

Look smack dab in the middle of the wing.....see it now?

You should be able to see Joseph (on the left) with his staff, a shepherd is behind him. Mary is to the right with an angel behind her.

Hopefully you've got it now. 

If I knew how I'd put an arrow pointing to the manger but it you should be able to figure it out.

The weekend is over.....and we finally have snow. Oh well, we knew it was going to happen. 

I'm sure a wonderful week lies ahead!!!