More garage sale finds!

This Saturday Ryan and I got out the newspaper, plotted out our plan of attack, and came home with some really great garage sale finds!
We scored this cute little cabinet along with two oil paintings and two silver candy dishes:

Some handmade Christmas placemats and napkins:

Two sets of vintage pillowcases with hand embrodery on them!

Two vintage tablecloths and one quilt:

Another vintage tablecloth with hand stitched daisies:

Two fabulous books! The first one is, "Signs and Symbolism in Christian Art," and the second is, "Family Meals and Hospitality." Both books are great finds! The art alone in the first book is absolutely incredible! It details the religious paintings of the old Masters and will make a great addition to our homeschooling library! The second book was written in 1955 and has tons of great ideas on entertaining and lots of recipes that I can't wait to try out!

This last set is my favorite! I got several vintage lady's hankerchiefs. They are so delicate and feminine!

Ryan got some artwork for his room and some HUGE conch shells to add to his collection. We had the best morning together!

Thrift store score!

I discovered a new thrift store here in town! It's located at the end of town in a strip section of stores. It looked pretty bad from the outside, so I never went in. Well, the other day, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to give it a look...what a treasure trove! The place is packed floor to ceiling with stuff! And there are two little old ladies, with their dogs, sitting in the midst of it all puffing away on cigarettes like smoke stacks! It may be a good thing that I can't stay in there long (due to the thick haze of cigarette smoke!)otherwise I might have to get a second job!
I think I scored pretty nicely, here's what I got!
A hand stitched tablecloth:

Three vintage city plates for my kitchen walls, a beautifully woven picnic table tablecloth, two vintage hand embelished pillow cases and two vintage orange pillow cases that I'm going to make into an apron, and a set of white linen napkins!

A small set of vintage tableware that goes nicely with my hand made tablecloth!

...and I only spent 15 bucks!

Because I'm cheap...

Check out this great idea I got from Rostitchery (http://rowena.typepad.com)
It's a reuseable Swiffer duster! I purchased some fleece from the fabric remnants at my local Walmart for $1.00. I placed my Swiffer handle (which is actually a Pledge duster handle!) onto the fabric folded four times over and cut out a little over 2 inch border all the way around:

Next, I cut a square that I folded over the prongs.

Make sure that the ends overlap and you allow some "wiggle room" as the fleece will shrink a bit in the wash.

Sew around the edges, leaving the bottom open for insertion of the duster prongs. Sew a zig-zag stitch down the middle:

Cut alternating lines in the layers of fleece. On subsequent dusters, I learned to cut my segments a little thinner. It makes the whole duster fluffier and able to get into smaller spaces.

Insert your duster handle, and VOILA! A totally "green" way to dust! Just throw your duster in the laundry when dirty and it comes out of the dryer fluffy and ready to use again! Here's John Paul with finished product, he spent the entire day dusting around the house! He told me I had to make the next batch out of Spider Man fabric and if it will get him to do my dusting....NO PROBLEM!

I was able to make three dusters from my $1.00 piece of fabric which sure beats $2.95 for a box of four!

Solar oven

Today the boys made a solar oven from a pizza box (instructions to build your own: http://www.solarnow.org/pizzabx.htm) It was a lot of fun, and pretty impresive! The internal temperature got up to 160 degrees before the sky became overcast. Unfortunately, our oven wasn't a success. After 2 hours the biscuts hadn't baked much at all and a sudden gust of wind blew our ovens off the picnic table. Still, it was a fun science lesson for the kids!
Ryan and Kyle constructing their ovens:

Doug helping Kyle to get the sun's reflection at the proper angle:

Biscuts baking in the sun!

While the boys were busily gathering time and temperature data, I took the opportunity to sew some more. I found a great vintage fabric and made another wrap dress:

Best seat in the house!

We had a lovely dinner tonight! Doug grilled some chicken, I made a corn salad, hummus and pita chips. I picked some flowers from the garden and set the picnic table outside. The evenings are getting a little cooler now so sitting outside to dine was really pretty nice!
God provided the entertainment....the sky show was spectacular!

Here's a close up of my centerpiece. Can you believe I can still cut roses in October? The small flowers are from my carrots! I left quite a few in the ground for fall harvest and they flowered, they almost look like Queen Anne's Lace.

A day in the life...

Doug and the big boys went into Houston for the day so JP, Danny and I had a "play day" today! No school work, no chores...just fun and play!
After breakfast, Danny and JP helped with the dishes. They spent a good 15 minutes washing this honey bottle!

Danny sat down for a show

while JP suited up and played Ninja Turtles!

We went outside to feed the birds:

Then got out the train set! That was so much fun for the boys. They got out every small sized toy to add to the set. You should have heard the dialog JP made up between the Storm Trooper, Thomas the Tank Engine and Lightning McQueen!


We went out to the thrift store to see if they had any new stuff. Nothing new for the kiddos, but I got a springform pan, two baskets, one set of vintage napkins and a crocheted afghan all for seven bucks!

All that work makes little boys tired, so after some lunch, everyone settled down for a rest:


After nap time and a snack, we weeded the garden:

and then Doug and the boys were back home. Kyle and Danny went for a walk in the field:

Then after dinner they were all off to the football game, leaving me alone for a nice hot shower and good book!

The view from our backyard

They just mowed and bailed all the hay in the field behind our backyard. The view is wonderful!

Best muffins ever!

I love making a big breakfast for the boys when I'm off. Nothing is better than them walking sleepily into the kitchen to give me a warm hug to start the day!
I've had this basic muffin recipe for a while (credit due to www.allrecipes.com) and it is very versatile. You can add anything to this basic recipe and it always turns out good! Here is the basic recipe for 12 regular sized muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, beat egg with a fork. Stir in milk and oil. Pour all at once into the well in the flour mixture. Mix quickly and lightly with a fork until moistened, but do not beat. The batter will be lumpy. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups (I never use muffin liners, just spray muffin tins with Pam.) Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden.

For a week now I've been trying to eat healthier. I decided to start by switching to whole grains instead of bleached flours (and by just changing that one factor alone, I've lost three pounds this week!) so I decided to see if I could change my muffin recipe, too. It worked!
Here's the re-vamped recipe:

1 cup whole wheat flour (I use graham flour)
1 cup unbleached white flour (You can use 2C. of whole wheat, but the muffins are very dense!)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup raw sugar, molasses or honey (whichever I happen to have on hand!)
1 egg
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or apple sauce
I also add:
1/3 cup of ground flax seeds
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 tsp. vanilla

This is the basic recipe all "fiber-ed" up and you can still add anything to it! This morning, I made these with blueberries, bananas and sliced almonds. The smell was wonderful and the boys made their way to the kitchen one by one with their sleepy little bed heads! These "experts" say my re-vamped recipe is better than the old one! Try it and see if you think the same!

Mock wrap dress

I've finally dusted off my sewing machine and started sewing again. It's been a year since I've sewn anything and I've really missed it! I'm sewing two new fall dresses and just finished my first one today. It's a mock wrap dress from Butterick pattern 5001, very quick and easy. I made this one short sleeved, the next one will be 3/4 sleeves because you never can tell what the weather will be like in Texas!
Anyway, just thought I'd show it off!

Art appreciation day

I found some paint-by-numbers sets at Walmart for two bucks and bought some for the big boys. JP and Danny got halloween watercolor books. They spent most of the day painting...IN SILENCE! It was just glorious! I was able to read and even got in an hour of sewing without someone saying, "mama" every two seconds!
It's true, art soothes the savage beast!




Little Danny also rode a bike for the first time today! We were all outside cheering him on as he peddaled around the driveway:

Summer revisited

Ha! Who says you can't grow summer squash and tomatoes in late September here in Texas?

Front porch makeover!

Ever since we moved in I have wanted to get the front porch area cleaned up, well we finally did it! Ryan had a particularly bad week in the behavior department and so his punishment was to remove all the rocks in the beds. I tell you, we have tried every punishment under the sun with that child, but nothing has worked better than this day of hard, physical labor! He really had time to think and reflect over the past week, plus, I think he's very proud of the job he did today....I know I am!!!
Here's the before picture:


The beds with rocks removed, landscaping fabric laid down, and a layer of mulch:


The finished project:


Now just to figure out what to plant in the beds that will make it through the winter!

Fall planting

I planted my fall garden today! A local nursery had some fall veggies for sale, so I didn't have to start from seed this season. We planted mustard greens, two varieties of cabbage, brussel sprouts and broccoli. Last week, I happened to find three tomato plants on the clearance shelf in the garden center at Walmart, so I added them to the garden, too.
Can't wait for the cooler weather to kick in and serve a dinner of roasted fall vegetables!

My new hobby!

Well I've finally found something that my oldest and I have in common...we like digging through other people's crap!
Ryan and I have been hitting the garage sales here in town on my weekends off, and we've been having a great time! We get up early and hit the sales, take a break for a smoothie and coffee, and we're off again! We've had lots of good talks along the way, too!
We found all of this last weekend for only 19 bucks:

Here is a great little table I found. I plan on repainting it and putting it in the foyer. The little setee is for my vanity. I initially bought the two pictures for the frames, but it turns out that I really like the scenic picture in the one on the wall, so I'm keeping it as is. As for the other one, I'm going to prime over the print and let Kyle paint something else over it. I'll post it when he's finished!


I found these two little porceline Mary statues and a very ornate gravy boat. I decided to turn the gravy boat into a planter and put them all on my kitchen windowsill. I just love my little "kitchen Madonnas!"




A BEAUTIFUL cake platter...


An incomplete set of china:


A few chochkies for my bedroom shelves, a mirrored tray, and some more state plates for my kitchen walls:


It's true....
one man's trash is another man's treasure!

Our new homeschooling group!

When we lived in Houston, we were part of a very large and very active Catholic homeschooling group. Since moving away, we've really missed interaction with other h.s. families (me more so, than the kids!) I decided to go ahead and start up my own group here in town and put the word out to surrounding communities.
We had our first meeting on Sept. 7th! Four families showed up, and an additional two contacted me but were unable to come due to schedule conflicts. Now six families may not seem like a lot, but considering each family has 4+ kids, you're talking about a pretty good turn out!
The kids (and moms) had a great time and it was so good to be with other like minded families and share our philosophies on child rearing and the Faith!
The name of our group is Wharton Area Traditional Catholic Homeschoolers, or W.A.T.C.H for short.