Life Lesson: You Never Want to Make Your Building Inspector Angry!!!

Wow! This has been a roller coaster month around here! It all started with us deciding to enclose our covered deck and turn it into a sun room. We never dreamed for a million years that we'd be in a huge battle 27 days later!

The battle lines were drawn on the 19th when we were told yet again, that our permit was not ready to be picked up, because it hadn't even been looked at, and there were still 7 other permits ahead of it. My husband spoke to some officials at our local township hall, who recommended that he contact the elected official, who is the supervisor to the building inspector.

He visited her in person. While he was waiting for her to return to her office, another man came in who was there for the same reason! She promised Kevin that he would have his permit that day or the following Monday at the latest.

Shortly after that, we got a call from the inspector asking why we would contact his supervisor because we don't even know him...what does that have to do with anything?? If he was doing his job, we wouldn't have had to contact his supervisor!

As you can guess, the permit wasn't available that Monday at the latest, nor was it available today-because now we are being told a whole slew of things that do not make sense.

Initially, we hired someone to design and draw up the plans for the sun room to be submitted for the permit, rather than draw them ourselves. It was a minimal expense to have it done correctly and written to code. It was supposed to make the job of the inspector and our job a lot easier-instead the inspector is "interpreting" the plans through angry lenses and is trying to put us through the ringer.

The designer is at the end of his rope with this whole situation and has suggested we seek legal assistance.  I've typed up a response to the latest round of emails, and I'm letting it sit for a while, while I pray about my attitude-and for direction. Kevin has no patience and wants to call a local news reporter known for getting to the bottom of things to get him on our case. I don't want to bring that kind of publicity to the situation.


All of the other permits were granted the same day they were applied for. This department was three weeks behind. Can you believe there is a building boom in Michigan? In this economy? Ha! He was behind, and he didn't like us calling him on it, so now we pay.

We had heard horror stories from other people about not making the building inspector mad...but never dreamed it would actually be something we'd be dealing with!

This Sure Brought a Smile to my Face!!!

I got an email the other day from an old friend. She was cleaning out some closets and came across this photo and thought I might like to have it.

It's a picture of my great grandma (she even autographed it!). She was living a nursing home and was battling dementia. Instantly my mouth curved into a smile, and my mind wandered back to all kinds of wonderful memories. She passed away a year or so after this. I miss her.

I LOVE surprises!

The other day my good friend the Chicken's Auntie (or just Auntie if you are a regular reader), came to work with a surprise present for me! She had been out shopping and picked me up a couple of ceramic condiment spoons in chartreuse green! They are a perfect match to my chartreuse Fiesta and they look AWESOME with my plum Fiesta! I LOVE them!!!

 THANKS Auntie!!!

Lazy Stuffed Cabbage Recipe...

I used the giant cabbage to make this and it was really easy and really good!

 

LAZY STUFFED CABBAGE

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Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,181,148164-230206,00.html
Content Copyright © 2010 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

2 lb. ground beef 

1 1/2 c. Minute Rice

1-29 can tomato soup
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
2 lb. chopped cabbage

1 soup can of water

Brown meat. Add onion soup mix and rice. Chop cabbage and put in bottom of 13 x 9 dish. Spread meat mixture over top. Mix soup and water and pour over meat. Cover with foil and bake 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees.

Mark your calendar!

There are a couple of sales coming up at local antique malls-mark your calendar now, so you don't miss out!

Sights along the way...

Here are some shots of things I passed today during my travels....

 I get so sad every time I see this abandoned house along the expressway. Someone started building it, and never finished it, and just left it to rot.

 Downtown Ann Arbor-this picture doesn't show how many people there were-there were people walking everywhere-enjoying the beautiful weather.

 I couldn't believe this line! It kind of reminded me of the Seinfeld show about the soup. These people waiting to get in to Zingerman's saw me circle the block three times trying to find a parking spot for Treasuremart.

Today was a nice day! I enjoyed my adventure-although it would have been more fun to have someone along for the ride!

What did you do today??

Sunny Saturday Road Trip...

Since our volleyball league is taking a break until after the first of the year, and we didn't have a match today, I decided to take a trip to Blissfield to visit their antique stores and my favorite Fiesta seconds store. I pulled in a little after ten am...and parked right outside the store that my heart was pitter pattering for all the way down. When I turned the car off and looked up, my heart sunk...the store was empty, there was a "for rent" sign in the window and the sign was painted black to cover up the store's name.

I was seriously bummed. The last time I took a trip to Blissfield, it was specifically to visit just that store and only that store. When I got there that time, I saw a sign on the door saying it was closed due to vacation! Good thing I just happened to be in the area for a funeral and didn't actually drive an hour to get there only to find it closed.

I continued on and caught up with a co-worker and her son who had already been antique shopping in Adrian and were hitting Blissfield on their way home. I could tell I was a butt-insky, so I kept wandering around on my own. I ran into them a couple of times and we talked a bit about what we were looking at, but we ended up going our separate ways.

I did find that the Fiesta seconds lady is renting space inside another store-right next door to her closed store! It was a tiny little booth and her inventory was seriously depleted, but I still managed to find a couple of things.

 A lemongrass plate and a discontinued heather pitcher.

After I left there, I made a stop at Swan Creek Candle and Antiques in downtown Dundee. I love that place! They have great prices and there is always something that I just can't pass by when I shop there! The candle smell can be a bit lot over powering though.

 A vintage Harlequin creamer and a vintage Fiesta bowl.

Some vintage Christmas bulbs, a vintage pork bellies sack (to make into a dishtowel), and a snowflake plate-that will be just perfect to give away filled up with Christmas cookies!

It was such a sunny and bright day, I decided to type in "antiques" into my GPS to see if maybe all these years I've been missing out on some quaint little shops that might be out there off the beaten path. I was really excited when a close one in Dundee showed up-so I followed it...right to someone's house!

After that, I decided to check out the shop of a company who has an antique shop as well as an estate sale business. Auntie and I have been to a few of their sales and they seem to have reasonable prices and are pretty organized. They were closed! What antiques place is closed on a Saturday?

The next stop was to be at Treasuremart in downtown Ann Arbor but there were way too may people and not one parking spot within a 3 block radius-so I abandoned that idea after circling the block 3 times and headed toward home- thinking I could stop at a new, local consignment shop that Auntie and I tried to visit on Thursday. It was closed the day we went. It was open today so I stopped. It was a tiny little place with a huge emphasis on clothes, purses and furniture. Very little in the way of glassware and no antiques, only a couple of vintage items. On the way out, I grumbled to myself that it wasn't even worth parking the car and getting out and walking in!

Pumpkin Dump Cake...

Here is a recipe that my family loves-maybe your family will like it too!

Ingredients

1 29 oz. can pumpkin puree 3 eggs 1/2 C. packed brown sugar 1/2 C. white sugar 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 tsp. salt 1 18 1/4 oz. pkg. spice cake mix 1/2 C. coarsely chopped pecans 1/2 C. melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, brown sugar, white sugar and milk. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Pour into pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the pumpkin filling. Sprinkle pecans over the cake mix. Drizzle melted butter over all. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Is very yummy served slightly warm!

Sneaking in a Lunchtime Sale...

Yesterday Auntie and I took an early lunch break from work and visited a local estate sale. It was a pretty packed house that had belonged to a former professor and librarian. There were books in almost every nook and cranny!

I picked up a few things:

 A picture frame...it's plastic, not wood, but I liked it, and it was only 50 cents!

 A couple of old dish towels and a brand new set of Pyrex custard cups.

I spent more on my lunch than on these things!

Disappointing Ebay Experience...

I was bidding on an item on Ebay and was the high bidder-no other bids, and today I got an email that the listing was canceled. When I clicked on the link to find out why, there was no reason given and I saw that the item was re-listed and the starting bid was $9 higher than the old starting bid...my bid.

I contacted Ebay's live chat and was told that a seller can cancel a listing at any time, for any reason and they can refuse to sell to a buyer at any time for any reason. He suggested that I contact the seller to ask why it was canceled. He said the seller must give a reason. I did send a question to the seller, but don't expect a response. The live chat person ended our conversation while I was still typing-nice huh?

I am really disappointed! I know I won't EVER shop that seller again even if they are giving their items away for FREE!  I think that was dishonest and the seller just was afraid they'd have to sell it to me for that price, so they canceled it and re-listed it at a higher price.

Maybe time to take a break from Ebay for a while...

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Have you already made your plans for Thanksgiving? Do you have a family tradition that you follow every year? Do you do the cooking, or do you travel to another family member's house and they do the cooking? Or is Thanksgiving just another day and you don't do anything special?

My earliest memories of Thanksgiving include a giant golden brown turkey coming in off of the grill, and all the trimmings. My dad has really mastered grilled turkey his are the BEST! My mom used to make stuffing with the giblets all chopped up (ewww!). She found a new recipe, several years ago, that I just LOVE and could eat it all by itself and be quite happy.

It is pretty easy to make. It has seasoned bread crumbs, browned up ground turkey sausage (with some chopped onion and celery), chicken broth, sliced water chestnuts and slices fresh mushrooms. I never measure when I make this, I just dump it all in the baking pan, mix it up and bake it and it is wonderful! Lots of great flavors and textures.

We will be having our dinner with my parents, grandparents, a friend of Adam's, and a couple of neighbor friends of my parents. There should be 13 or 14 of us for dinner.

I just hope I don't end up with the same Thanksgiving gift I got last year...a speeding ticket! I was bringing my grandparents to my parents house, and was pulled over on a long deserted road in a county that has such little traffic that there isn't even a traffic light in the whole county! Leave it to me to get a ticket! I didn't even realize I was driving that fast! We were just talking away and catching up, and there he was -and he wasn't there to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving!

Afterward, my family had a lot of fun at my expense at the dinner table. With comments like, "Could you pass the mashed potatoes...but not to fast!", or "You don't want to eat to fast...you might get indigestion." or "Watch the gravy...it comes out fast!" and so on and so on for the whole meal, and pretty much throughout the whole weekend. It was all pretty funny and it made for lots of laughs. That little ticket was $120-I've learned my lesson, I set the cruise control on that road now!

Do you ever go shopping on Black Friday? I used to go quite a bit when the boys were younger. I've gotten some really awesome bargains on Black Friday, but now that they are older, they like to just get money as their gift and pick out their own stuff. Plus when we go to my parents, it is about an hour and a half drive to the nearest decent stores so far I haven't found anything that is worth getting up at the wee hours (or staying up all night) for.

I'd love to hear about your Thanksgiving plans and traditions! I'll be checking back to see what you have to say!

Deer Camp Update...

I got a picture text earlier today...Eric got his buck! A 5 point-now he has to wait for grandpa to get one. It looks really tiny in the picture-but keep in mind, he's 6'4 1/4 inches tall!

He'll be home tomorrow some time-yay! I miss my boy!

Sorry if my last post and this one has offended any of you-or if the pictures have...I'm just posting about our life and right now deer hunting is part of our life.

Hope you have a great night-I'm heading out to play some volleyball and seeing friends I haven't seen in a couple of months!

All is quiet on the homefront...

It is really quiet this evening in our house! Eric is away at deer camp, Kevin isn't home from work yet, and Adam is taking a break from his studies-trying to conquer his newest video game downstairs. It is starting to feel more like fall, with cooler temperatures and more dampness in the air so I made up a big pot of chili for dinner-it's such a comfort food!

I got the update on deer camp from my Mom...so far all they have seen are some does, so they haven't gotten anything yet. Other guys have found their bucks right away-there are 16 of them on the buck pole already and it's only opening day!

She also said Eric is having the time of his life! My Dad, his oldest brother and countless cousins, aunts and uncles all descend on his cousin's 300+ acre dairy farm in Ionia, Michigan every deer season. I think this is Eric's third or fourth year (second or third without Adam).

Adam went for a few years, but once he got a 10 point buck-that was enough of getting up early and sitting in the cold for hours on end. He paid big bucks (pardon the pun-lol) to have the head mounted-it was almost a  2 year process and now it sits on a shelf in the basement-sigh...

I just love listening to all the stories from deer camp when they get home! The first year Adam went,  I kept hearing Al did this, Al said this, Al, Al, Al...Al was in every story...Al is in his mid to late 80's!! This is such a rich time for family memories and it is so neat that the boys have gotten to know their cousins, aunts and uncles better! This year, Eric couldn't be bothered to answer a text message I sent him because he was involved in a big card game!

He got up at 4am to help with the chores today! He was feeding calves and helping with the milking process...I can hear it now...he's going to want a cow to go along with his chickens and quail!! He has also gotten to help with some clean up and maintenance work around the farm-what a great experience for him!

He will be back home on Wednesday-with or without a deer, and back to school on Thursday. I can't wait to hear this year's stories!

 Here are both boys at deer camp a few years ago-the last time they hunted together.

I'm not a big fan of venison-not even a little fan-I don't care for it. My parents keep  most of the meat (they love it)-we only take enough for a couple of meals and that lasts us almost a year. The boys would eat it all the time, if I would fix it.

Hope you have a nice and quiet evening! :)

Friday Finds...from Downtown Detroit!

Yesterday Auntie and I set off on another treasure seeking adventure. We went to downtown Detroit. Not to the areas that are being renewed...but to a kind of iffy area. There were some really beautiful homes that were taken care of, and right next door, there were homes that were burned out and boarded up.

It was a lot different from any other areas we have been to for estate sales. We live in the suburbs, about an hour west of Detroit. In our neck of the woods, the houses aren't so close together and we don't have whole rows of abandoned and/or burned out houses near us.

We decided that we would check out the neighborhood where the sale was, and if it didn't look safe, we would just keep on driving and head back toward home. It ended up being fine, and we did stop. I'm glad we did!! We got to go into a home that in its younger years, I'm sure, would have been quite a beauty! It had been let go, and needed some work to freshen it up.

It wasn't in such bad shape that it should be torn down. It was just worn down and tired. The plaster walls were cracked all over and needed repairs, the floors needed attention and the kitchen needed updates. Overall, if someone was willing to put in some sweat equity-they will have a beautiful home. I really loved the cove ceilings, the solid wood original doors with crystal knobs. The fireplace was pretty awesome too-with the original woodwork.

I think I have enjoyed going in to these older homes and seeing all the original workmanship, as much as I have enjoyed the treasure hunt-it all makes the experience special. Sometimes I wish the walls could talk-and share their stories of the history of the people who lived there once upon a time. I also wish I would have snapped a few pictures of the inside.

We stopped at a couple of other sales on the way toward home, and our final stop was Knightsbridge Antique Mall in Northville. We both LOVE this place-and since they were having a 15%-50% off sale...we just had to work it into our itinerary.

These are the treasures I came home with:

A set of 3 Glassbake individual casserole dishes for $1 each. They were very filthy, I wasn't sure if they would clean up or not-I'm glad they did! Aren't they cheery?

 A Glassbake covered casserole dish, and a covered refrigerator dish-both in excellent condition-no chips or cracks.

I got these two ornaments at Knightsbridge-Auntie picked one up too.

I just LOVE this measuring cup/chopper-it was from the Detroit house.

The three larger glasses were from a sale in Dearborn Heights-all three for $2. Later that day, I saw one at the antique store for $5 for one!! The pink and green flowered glass is from a sale in Plymouth, and the two Swanky Swigs (YAY!!! I finally found some in my price range!!!) are from Knightsbridge. I also picked up an old umbrella for $1 for a co-worker who wants some for her antique umbrella stand, and some more knitting needles for my mom.

It was a beautiful day too-it got up to 69 degrees-can you believe it? I can remember when Kevin and I were dating and he was home on leave from the Navy (on his birthday-November 12) and it had snowed so much he couldn't get his car up the driveway at my parents house-he had to park on the road and walk up!!!

Treats for the Troops-Baking Day!

Today was a baking day for our high school youth group girls. We baked about 400 cookies (chocolate chip, double treat (peanut butter cookies with peanuts and chocolate chips) and peanut butter cookies), as well as 8 batches of caramel corn.

I was hoping for/expecting about 12 girls...only 2 showed up-but they really worked hard and we got quite a good system down for cranking out the cookies! I was sooo thrilled to see them and sooo thankful for their help!

Our church has been sending "Treats to the Troops" for several years now. This was the first year we tried getting a group of high school girls to come in and bake. I think we would have had a better turn out, if they hadn't scheduled a rake-n-run (groups of high school students going to senior citizens homes and raking their leaves up-and running off to the next home on the list) for the morning. I think everyone was worn out from all the raking to do much baking!


It was a looooonnnnnggggg day! After all the baking, I had a volleyball match. I probably should have just went home, I wasn't much help! Now, I'm sitting on the couch, waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in!

Happy Birthday Kevin!!

Today, November 12, 2010 is Kevin's (my husband) 43rd  birthday! Happy Birthday Kevin!!  We met our senior year in high school and were married 2 years later-soon to be married for 23 years!

 Happy Birthday Kevin-I love you!!

Have you ever...

Have you ever been on Ebay and found something you liked and put in the minimum bid, and forgot about it-fully expecting to get outbid in a heartbeat? That is what happened to me this week. I was scrolling through a list of vintage Fiesta bowls and I came across one that was super cheap-$3.25!! Imagine my surprise when I got an invoice saying I won it!

The seller didn't list what number it was in the series of 7 bowls, just the measurements. I under estimated the measurements and thought it would be for a small bowl like a #2 or #1.  It ended up being a #4...my second #4, but that's OK...I LOVE it!!!

For its age, it looks really good. It has some crazing on the inside and a very fine hairline crack that you have to really look for to see, but other than that, it's PERFECT! I love the color!!! I'm not making much headway in completing the set, especially if I keep buying the same size all the time!

This is the second time now that I've gotten something on Ebay for the starting bid and have been shocked that I actually had the winning bid. I guess persistence pays off! It gives me new incentive to keep on looking and keep on bidding-some day I'll have a full set of vintage Fiesta mixing bowls!!!

I'm almost afraid to admit it...I found 2 more pink Pyrex bowls!

My pink Pyrex mixing bowl set is nearly complete! I just got the #402 and #401 bowls in the mail yesterday, so all that's left for me to find is the #404!

I'm still looking for the aqua bowls (404, 403, 402) and the vintage Fiesta bowls (7, 6, 5, 3, 2) but I'm not willing to pay the prices I'm seeing right now...persistence and patience do pay off-they are just hard to practice! :)

Are you a big fan of vintage Pyrex like me? Then check out this blog The Pyrex Collective: Additions to my Addiction.

Yum! Butternut Squash!!

We have a new produce store just down the road a bit called Banana Jack's. I've been wanting to check it out since it opened about a month ago, and I was hoping they would have some squash (and it would be cheaper than the local grocery stores).

They sure did!! They were HUGE-and so was the cabbage! It was also 50¢ a pound less than the other stores - so we got a little carried away...

That's my phone, just to give you a perspective on how big they are. This pile of produce weighed 39 pounds!! Good thing the per pound price was so low!

Do you like butternut squash? How do you prepare it? I have a friend who mixes in brown sugar... I like it with just a little salt and pepper-can't wait to get it in the oven!!

Thank you Veterans!!

Thank you Veterans for serving our country, and for the many sacrifices you have made for our freedom.

This is Kevin at age 18, when he joined the Navy.

A Couple of Projects...

Have you ever made a toothbrush rag rug? I've been wanting to make one for a while. I've watched a lot of how to videos on you tube, as well as read written instructions from different websites, so I decided to give it a go, and see if I could do it. I wanted to keep the cost down, so I went to the discount fabric rack at Walmart. I wanted to use solid colors that were similar to Fiesta colors.

I started it on Saturday, and spent several hours on it on Sunday. I know I was pulling it wayyy too tight when I first started-hence the comments from all three of my guys (all at different times, without any of the other of them being in the room at the time the comments were made) "Are you making a Jamaican hat?" Ugh! It made me laugh though! I have been able to flatten it out, and I'm working on not pulling it so tightly. I suppose when it gets bigger it will look more like a rug-I hope!

I'll show pictures when I am all done.

I'm also planning to make a Christmas card basket-just need to gather enough vintage Christmas cards. Have you ever made one? If I can't find the real deal vintage cards, I was able to find several blogs that have scanned in lots of cards that are free to use in craft projects.

Do you have any easy vintage-y Christmas craft projects that a group could do? Every year at Christmas, our office gets shut down for a day, and we all gather together for brunch and crafts and hanging out. I thought a vintage Christmas craft would be fun to share-but I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas...

My friend Chicken's Auntie is hosting a staff ladies Christmas luncheon (separate from the other one) at her house-I told her I thought it would be awesome to use her vintage Christmas tablecloths, vintage dishes (if she has enough of them) and make vintage recipes...she got stressed just listening to me-LOL!

Do you have any easy vintage Christmas recipes? Or any ideas for throwing a vintage Christmas luncheon?

Have you tried this?

Last Friday while Auntie and I visited with our sweet new friend from church, she showed us a trick she uses with her silver. In her silverware box, she has dropped in several very small pieces of white chalk. She says she hasn't had to polish the silver in about 20 years!!
 
You can Google it and get more information about it-just thought you'd like to know!

I need a 12 step program for my bowl addiction!!

I was able to find the yellow and the brown dotty bowls to finish off the set I started in the spring (with the blue bowl), and recently added to it with the orange bowl. Here they are!

Now, I'm dying to get some Fire King dot bowls!  I have three sets of the Pyrex Primary mixing bowls-only because I kept running into the bowls at garage sales dirt cheap and couldn't walk away from them (like how I justified that?).

I have 2 dotty bowl sets-both by different manufacturers, and I'm working on a set of aqua Pyrex and pink Pyrex mixing bowls and a set of new Fiesta baking and prep bowls and a set of vintage Fiesta mixing bowls-how many bowls can one house hold?

WOW! I didn't realize how many I had until I just typed it all out! I wonder why I am drawn to them so much...or why I seem to be drawn to kitchen serve ware more than anything else...maybe it has to do with being a caterer for a few years-I  must be still stuck in that mode.  

Since I've almost gotten over my Fiesta ware addiction, I guess it is only fitting to find something else to set my sights on...my husband and boys threaten to use my glassware as skeet if I were to pass on before they do-nice huh? I'm pretty sure they are joking-and even if they aren't-they are not as smart as they look, because some of the stuff I've picked up for pennies on the dollar over the years is now actually worth something-so they'd only be hurting themselves.

What did you do today?

Today was a different kind of day. I met Auntie at the home of an elderly lady from our church. She wants to hire Auntie to sell some of her stuff on Ebay, and I just went along for moral support and to drool!

She's in her eighties and still has a mind like steel trap. She is from Rhode Island originally and still has a bit of an accent-which I just absolutely LOVE! Her husband's family is from the U.P. (that's how she ended up in Michigan). She seems pretty lonely. Her husband and daughter passed on a while back and her son and his family live in Texas and it seems like they haven't visited in years. She has to go to them.

She lives in a pretty upscale and exclusive area, but I really didn't see anything upscale or exclusive about her condo. Maybe at the time they purchased it, but not so much now. She LOVES to talk about her stuff, and each piece has a story all its own. We spent almost 2 hours at her house and I don't think we even scratched the surface! We never opened the kitchen cupboards or went upstairs.

Most of the things she has are really regal and elegant, not at all the kinds of things Auntie and I shop for when we are out. We are more into vintage stuff from the 40's, 50's and 60's.

She seemed like she really didn't want to get rid of her stuff, but she knows her son doesn't want it and she doesn't want to leave him with a mess to deal with when she's gone, and she doesn't just want it to be tossed out. Before we visited she told us that she had an auction house in Detroit come out last year and take a lot of her furniture (all the "Victorian stuff").

We saw a paper mache table from (she thinks) the 1700's! It was BEAUTIFULLLLL!! It looked like it had  a type of oyster shell inlay, and was painted black with a hunting scene. She had her great grandmother's bridal shawl and black bonnet, framed in a giant mahogany shadow box over her sofa, and the most precious thing I've ever seen, was a picture of her late husband on the wall with a couple pairs of his baby booties on the wall next to it. She also showed us a box of a bunch of his baby shoes-even a pair with buttons and a button tool to fasten them.

Needless to say, we were VERY overwhelmed, she had soo much stuff! She says she isn't a person who does a good job decorating or even someone who enjoys it, but her house, even though it was FULL of stuff, it was displayed very nicely and thoughtfully. You can tell family and history means a LOT to her.

After we left her house, we stopped for a quick lunch and then I had to get to work for a couple of hours. Our 5th & 6th graders were heading off for a weekend retreat, and since I am the assistant to 3 youth ministry directors, I have to run the check-ins for trips and retreats.

Everything ran smoothly for the most part until one family (very well known for always being late), was late again! When I called their house at 2:20 to tell them that everyone was going to be pulling out at 2:30- I was told the mom was too busy to come to the phone, and that they'd "try" to get there. They finally arrived about 25 minutes later-only 45 minutes late!

After that, Eric and I ran out for a few groceries (a few for us, but for most households, I bet it would be a lot of groceries! With 2 teenage boys and their friends, we go through a massive amount of food in our house! Kevin and I always say we'll be rich once the boys are on their own and we don't have to feed them anymore!).

While we were shopping we got a text at 4:30 from Adam asking if we were out getting pizza (that's a Friday night standard at our house-thank goodness for $5 Little Caesar's Hot and Ready pizzas! We have to go for quantity rather than quality right now-with keeping these guys full.). Eric texted back not yet, we are grocery shopping.

To him, that meant, go buy them. To us, that meant, we'll pick them up on our way home...but Eric and I decided we wanted Jet's pizza (deep dish, BBQ chicken pizza and a loaded pizza). So...with the 2 we bought and the 5 he bought, we ended up with 7 pizzas tonight!! I'm sure they won't go to waste, because Adam has some work friends coming over around 10 tonight to play capture the flag in the dark. All the running around is bound to work up some appetites!

That was my Friday. What did you do today? Did you hit any sales? Did you find any treasures?

Give away at Just something I made...

Cathe at Just Something I made is having a give-away!

It is to celebrate the release of her very first branded product- Cathe Holden Vintage Design Series Holiday stamp sets by Pink Persimmon. All you have to do to be entered in the drawing is leave a comment.

She has a LOT of fantastic ideas and is very generous in sharing ideas as well as graphics-you'll want to follow her blog!

Happy Birthday Jody!

Today is my cousin's birthday! We grew up right next door to each other and were really close friends from the time I was in Kindergarten until we moved away my senior year in high school. Now we only live about 15 minutes apart, but life is so busy we only see each other once every couple of months when we meet up for lunch and the family get-togethers twice a year.

Today was lunch day and her birthday! What a fun day! Both her parents joined us for lunch and it was really nice. Too bad she had to hurry back to work!

 Here she is last Christmas, reading to her sweet little niece Zoe-isn't that just a precious photo?