{Curb Alert!} Free Bed Bugs

I told you I can't keep up finishing all the posts I've started. So here's a curb alert from last week. I was on my way home from grocery shopping Tuesday morning when I noticed a pile of potentially good stuff at the end of a driveway. I turned around because, well, its just not in me to pass up what could be. There were a few household items but mostly it was kid stuff. So I scooped up a few things.

First, a game of Bed Bugs.

As soon as the kids saw it they wanted to try it.  Of course it didn't work. So I put in new batteries and it still didn't work. It looked like all the wiring was in tact but I know nothing about electronics so I asked my father-in-law if he could swing by when he was out and about to take a look at it. Well he couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work either and we just assumed the moter was busted.

While the girls were chowing down on the M&Ms Poppy brought for them, I pulled out the motor to take a look at it (not that I had any idea what I was looking at or for) and put it back in. Still nothing, as expected. So we sadly gave up and put it on the table while we continued to visit with Poppy. Two minutes later the thing started buzzing all by itself - scared the heck out of us! Don't ask me how but it worked and the kids had fun fighting over playing with it.

As I recounted the story to my hubby that evening he responded, "So what you're telling me is that you called my dad over to check out your new vibrating bed?"  :-) Comments like that are why our friends got him a t-shirt for Christmas one year that read "Caution: Busy formulating a withering retort."

Another item I took off the curb was a colorful kids 35mm camera, of which I have no intention of actually putting film in, but it's way cooler than any of our other toy cameras. My three year old agrees.

The only other things worth taking were a few books. One I really like is a nice hardcover "coffee table" photo book of the state of Massachusetts. It includes beautiful scenic and historic landmarks from all seasons. It'll be nice to have on hand for our state geography and history lessons and for planning field trips.

This little alphabet coloring and tracing book and a Bible activity book had both never been used.

My three year old quickly christened the ABC book. She was about due for a new "my preschool workbook," which she loves to work on while her older sister is at the table working on Kindergarden stuff.

So my last curb alert was a bed. This time its Bed Bugs. Nothing crazy amazing this time around, but as my hubby would also say, "Better than a sharp stick in the eye."

GOD IS...(III)

I'm back to teaching Sunday School to Junior High and High Schoolers again. YAY! Last week marked my first official morning back since having baby #3. Now that she's about 6 months old her schedule is such that she doesn't need to be fed during Sunday School and I'm free to get back to doing what I love.

Our class finished up with the prophet Hosea and his prostitute wife before I had the baby. The substitute teacher was brave enough to dig into the book of Revelation but I'm not. :)  I left it up to the teens to decide what we studied next and they chose 1 Corinthians because one girl said her favorite verse was 1 Corinthians 13:4, "Love is patient. Love is kind..." (often referred to as The Wedding Verse). I was very happy with their choice. All that to say that you'll notice I'm now including a lot from 1 Corinthians in my weekly editions of GOD IS.

Also, part way through last week I decided to make a change to stop including something in my list. The Bible Story book we've been reading through with the kids (currently in Exodus) puts the story from scripture in the author's own words and elaborates. So because it is not direct Bible reading,  I decided not to include what those stories have to say about God, at least for now. My list is quite long as it is! So I kept what I had already written for Exodus but did not (and will not) continue.

Without further ado...

1 Corinthians 1:1 It is by God's will that people are called to be apostles of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:2 Jesus Christ sanctified (made holy) God's church in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 1:3 God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ gives us grace and peace.

1 Corinthians 1:4 God's grace is given to us in Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:5 Christ enriches us in every way - in all our speaking and in all our knowledge.

1 Corinthians 1:7-8 Jesus Christ will be revealed and will keep us strong to the end.

1 Corinthians 1:9 God, who has called us into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

1 Corinthians 1:13 Christ is not divided.

1 Corinthians 1:17 Christ did not send Paul to baptize but to preach the gospel.

Exodus 16:4 God told Moses that He would rain down bread from heaven for the people who were complaining that they had no food. God would only send down enough each day for that day for the people to gather to test them to trust Him and obey Him.

Exodus 16:10 The glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud while Moses and Aaron were telling the people to expect God to provide the manna (wafers that were as white as coriander seed and tasted like honey - v. 30) and quail.

Exodus 16:11 God told Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.' "

Exodus 16:23-24 God instructed Moses to tell the Israelites to gather twice as much food on the sixth day of the week and to bake and boil that day so that they would have enough to rest on the seventh day, a Sabbath to the Lord.

Exodus 16:28-29 After the Israelites attempted to gather bread on the Sabbath and found none, the Lord said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out."

Exodus 16:32 God instructed Moses to get a jar and put some of the manna in it to keep for generations to come so they could see the bread He gave them to eat in the desert when He brought them out of Egypt.

Ephesians 4:32 God forgives us in Christ.

Exodus 17:5-6 After the people grumbled to Moses about having no water to drink, God told Moses to walk ahead of the people with some of his elders and to take his staff with him. God stood before Moses at a rock and told him to strike the rock with his staff and water poured out for the people to drink. The elders were there to witness what God said and what happened.

Exodus 17:14 After winning their first battle with the Amalekites because Moses kept his hands outstretched, the Lord told Moses, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua [who helped hold up Moses' arms when he was tired - v. 12] hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."

Exodus 17:15 After that, Moses called God "The Lord is my Banner" because God helped them while his hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord.

Psalm 3:3 The Lord is a shield around us and bestows glory on us and lifts up our heads.

Proverbs 16:5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart and will be sure they do not go unpunished.

Exodus 18:11 After hearing about all that the Lord had done for the Israelites, Moses' father-in-law declared with delight that he now knew "the Lord is greater than all other gods..."

Isaiah 37:23 God is the Holy One of Israel.

1 Peter 2:3 The Lord is good.

1 Peter 2:4, 6 Jesus is the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him. Whoever trusts in Him will never be put to shame.

1 Peter 2:7-8 Jesus is the stone the builders rejected but has become that capstone. He is a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall because they disobey the message.

1 Peter 2:9 God chooses us to belong to Him and to declare His praises. He calls us out of darkness and into His wonderful light.
Exodus 19:3-6 When Moses went up Mt. Sinai to God, the Lord called to him from the mountain and said to tell the people of Israel, "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."  (Emphasis is mine - of course of I love that!)

1 Peter 2:15 It is God's will that by doing good we should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

1 Peter 2:20 God finds it commendable if we suffer for doing good and endure it.

Romans 15:5-6 God gives us endurance, encouragement and a spirit of unity as we follow Christ Jesus, so that with one mouth, we may glorify God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:25 God may grant repentence that leads to knowledge of the truth if we gently instruct those who oppose Him.

1 Peter 2:21-23 Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps. When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to Him who judges justly.

1 Peter 2:24 Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (cross), so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By his wounds we have been healed.

1 Peter 2:25 Christ is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.
Romans 6:23 The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, even though our sins earn us death.

1 Timothy 2:5-6a There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.

Window Treatments II

It was way back in August that I posted about wanting to change up my dining room window treatments. This was the look until recently.

I was patient through the end of last year's yard sale season looking for curtain panels and didn't find anything. (As I assumed I would not.) Plus I still always had my heart set on panels in this fabric that I'd been drooling over from Ballard Designs. But they were more $$$ than I would spend on curtain panels.

So I figured it was worth a shot to let my Santas know I wanted Ballard gift cards for Christmas. Hubby calls this "mental accounting." I can't justify spending his hard earned money on something but I will drop the same amount of money in a heartbeat if is gifted to me. To him, money is money, whether it was a gift or earned - it should be treated equally. Well, that's the difference in thought process between a treasure hunter and a financial advisor.

Anyhoo... Between Christmas and my birthday I was given enough in Ballard gift cards to go ahead and justify my splurge. (Thank you "Santa!") There were a few bumps in the road along the way though. Such as Ballard losing the first gift card they supposedly mailed out and/or mailing it to the wrong address. And then me ordering the wrong length panel the first time around.

While waiting for the correct length to arrive, I had my handyman Brian install the curtain rod brackets from my existing hardware up high on the wall above the molding. I could do it myself if I had a drill that worked....if the one I got at a yard sale last year had a battery packed that actually recharged. I'm not bitter or anything. I'm hopeful I'll find one that does work yard sale-ing this season, otherwise I'll be asking Santa for that for next Christmas.

So, Brian spaced the brackets exactly how I told him I wanted them. Only once I actually hung up the rods (the cheap kind where one side slides into the other side), one side just barely reached the other so they sagged without enough support in the middle. I forgot to take a picture of that but it was quite pitiful looking. Oops, I guess I kinda didn't realize how limited I was in how far they actually extended apart. Another bump in the road. The hardware was already drilled into the wall so...what to do?

My genius husband had the idea to just make new rods out of dowels and screw the finials from the old rods into the dowels. DUH! So I ran down to the local hardware store and bought the right size dowels and a little sample container of brown paint, because I decided they would look better darker.

This time it was my father-in-law that accepted my request to drill holes in the ends of the dowels to fit the screws on the finials.

After screwing in all the finials I painted everything brown. Much better.

I also had to paint the brackets that were already screwed into the wall. While those were drying I ironed the curtain panels and finally got everything all rigged up. I would prefer much thicker rods, but these were the thickest dowels I could fit in the existing mounting hardware. So I settle.

Boy am I patient. 8 months later and I finally have the look I was going for. Gifted panels. Half re-used hardware. And less than $10 on dowels and paint.  Not bad for new window treatments. It was worth the wait. I sort of love them.

I have to smile when I look at this picture. A hand-me-down table (well okay, I don't smile about that one, but I make do with it just fine), yard sale light fixture, yard sale light shades, yard sale vase, yard sale salt & pepper shakers, yard sale mini-crate, thrift shop pitcher, yard sale vintage kitchen timer (that I keep on the table to motivate my kids to eat their dinner faster), thrift shop frames, antique-shop planter, hand-me-down corner table, yard sale bird cage... I don't buy much new. But I think you already figured that out.

GOD IS...(II)

Wow. My second weekly edition of GOD IS is just that. Wow. I guess that's to be expected since God is wow and his word is wow. I'm really loving seeing it all in one place like this - its very powerful. I guess that's to be expected since God is powerful and his word is powerful.  So as a reminder, this is a running tally of who God is and what He did/does taken from my Bible reading this week. I don't make this stuff up folks. This is straight from THE horse's mouth. :)

Have a seat. :)  It's a little heavy at first but press on.

1 Peter 1:1-2 God the Father chose His elect according to His foreknowledge. The Holy Spirit sanctified them and Jesus sprinkled His blood for them.

1 Peter 1:3 God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has great mercy through which He has given His elect new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

1 Peter 1:4 In heaven, God keeps an inheritence for His elect that can never perish, spoil, or fade.

1 Peter 1:5 God shields His elect by His power through faith.

1 Peter 1:8 Jesus Christ is loved and believed by those who do not see Him yet are filled by Him with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

1 Peter 1:10-11 The Spirit of Christ in the prophets was pointing them to predict the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

1 Peter 1:12 The Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, enables people to preach the gospel.

Psalm 121:2 The Lord is where our help comes from.

Jeremiah 33:3 When we call to God, He answers us and shows us great and mighty things we do not know.

Psalm 51:17 God wants our sacrifice of a willing spirit. He will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for its sin.

Exodus 14:3 and 17-18 God told Moses that God would make Pharoah stubborn again so that he would chase after the Israelites, but God would defeat Pharoah and his army so this would bring honor to God and cause the people of Egypt to know that God is the Lord.

Exodus 14:14 The Lord would fight for the Israelites if they were still and calm.

Exodus 14:19-20 God, in a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, sometimes traveled in front of and sometimes traveled behind the Israelites to lead them, comfort them, and protect them.

1 Peter 1:13 When Jesus Christ is revealed He will give grace.

1 Peter 1:15. God calls us to be holy because He is holy.

1 Peter 1:17  God is a Father who judges each person's work impartially.

1 Peter 1:19 Christ was a lamb without blemish or defect, who's blood is precious.

1 Peter 1:20 Christ was chosen by God before the creation of the world but revealed in these last times for our sake.

1 Peter 1:21 God raised Christ from the dead and glorified Him.

1 Peter 1:23 God's word is living and enduring.

1 Peter 1:25 The word of the Lord stands forever.

Exodus 15:1 The Lord is highly exalted.

Exodus 15:2 The Lord is our strength and our song; He has become our salvation.

Exodus 15:3 The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is His name.

Exodus 15:6 God's right hand is majestic in power and shattered the enemy.

Exodus 15:7 In the greatness of God's majesty He threw down those who opposed Him. He unleashed His burning anger that consumed them like stubble (hay).

Exodus 15:8 God piled up the waters of the Red Sea with the blast of His nostrils.

Exodus 15:11 There are no gods like God. He is majestic in holiness, awesome in glory and He works wonders.

Exodus 15:12 God reached out His right hand and the earth swallowed His enemies.

Exodus 15:13  In His unfailing love God leads the people he has redeemed. With His strength He guides them to his holy dwelling.

Exodus 15:16 By the power of God's arm his enemies will be as still as stone.

Exodus 15:17 The Lord will bring his people in and plant them on the mountain of his inheritence. That is the sanctuary that His hands established for His dwelling.

Exodus 15:19 The Lord will reign for ever and ever.

Exodus 15:25 The Lord responded to Moses' cry to Him and gave him instructions on how to make bitter water sweet. In the same place, God made a decree and a law for the people and He tested them.

Exodus 15:26  God said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you."


And that, my friends, is THE TRUTH of God's word! I pray that it penetrates your soul and spirit, that it judges the thoughts and attitudes of your heart, that it teaches you, corrects you, rebukes you and trains you in rightousness.

Finding a Place for Everything

I usually try not to take home treasures unless I have a place or use in mind for them before I buy them. However, sometimes I come across things that I think are just too good to pass up and I know that eventually they'll settle in somewhere nicely. Here are some of the treasures I've come home with over the past month or so that have found their place.

The bird cage sits on a little end table in the corner of my dining room. The table was something I was able to take from my best friend's mom's house when they were cleaning out 4 generations worth of stuff to move almost seven years ago.

Inside the cage is a branch with four wooden birds wired on to it. This was something I'd been given by my boss when I was still working and first started introducing some birds into my living room decor. She'd had it in her house and passed it along. It's a little too primitive to match most of my decor so I could never find the right spot for it. But now it has finally found its place and fits perfectly propped inside the cage.

Previously on top of that corner table sat a basket  full of vintage tablecloths that I rarely if ever use anymore because of the kids and their almost daily guaranteed spills. Before kids I always had a tablecloth on the dining room table. I guess its time to tuck those away for a while, or until I come up with a better solution to display them. I have a very soft spot for vintage tablecloths, especially ones that are from the 1940s era and/or are embroidered:

I miss seeing you pretty ladies, spread out in all of your glory.

Maybe some day they will find their place in a cupboard or hutch (found at a yard sale, of course) like this:

Okay, so I don't have that many vintage linens, nor do I intend to acquire that many...although...if you add up all the aprons and tea towels to the tablecloths...still no.

Another thing I've always wanted to do but don't really have the space for right now is to display them by hanging them from an old ladder like these:

The little old crayon crate and ironstone pitcher that I got a few weeks ago have found their home on the dining room table. The crate now corrals our vitamins, honey, salt & pepper, which were previously littered all over the table.

The pitcher corrals writing utensils (since this table also functions as a desk or work station most days).

The vintage soda crates are being used to hold shoes and boots by the front door for now.

Now for things that still have not found their place. This is a little glimpse of a corner on my porch which was still cluttered with treasures I found last summer. Well, that was until Marathon Monday, when I had my own porch-cleaning marathon and moved it all to the basement.

That marathon continues on the other side of the porch this coming weekend. Hopefully after some more treasure hunting.

Last Weekend's Scores

Saturday morning I only had a short while to scoot out and treasure hunt before heading to a funeral for a dear friend's mom. There was an estate sale right in town so I buzzed over early at the starting time of 8am. There was a lot of funky old stuff, like a bunch of old trunks for $5 a piece, and tons of chairs, all $1 a piece. I have no space for trunks, otherwise I would have scooped one up. I did happen to pick up two chairs though.

The first will be a great makeover chair with some white paint and reupholstered seat. Easy. Or at least worth a shot at $1. It sort of reminds me of the last chair I picked up for free curbside only a little bit smaller.

I haven't cleaned it up yet, but its in sturdy condition. I'm kicking myself for not taking the whole matching set.

The second chair I got for $1 will most likely sit out front by my stairs with a pot of impatiens or begonias in it over the summer.

I let in too much light for the picture so its kinda hard to tell, but its actually a very faded red. It's perfectly worn, cracked and chippy.

The only other thing I picked up was an old wooden handled iron. It's for my someday laundry room that hopefully will not be in a basement dungeon.

Or, in the meantime, I'm considering using it as a door stopper and putting a few of the sticky-back felt squares for under furniture legs on the bottom - so it doesn't scratch the floor. We have a few doors that like to slam shut when all the windows are open on a breezy day. Great for napping babies.

Th-th-th-th-tha-That's all folks!

Mini Buds, Mini Vases

I just realized I have 14 posts in draft mode and I gotta get cranking some of these out or I'll never catch up! So here's one I started early last week...

Now that the warmer weather seems to be here to stay we've been spending a lot more time outdoors. And my girls have been picking me a lot of flowers. Well, they've been picking weeds and flowers.  Here they are with the dandelion bouquet they picked for their Great-Gram.

Dandelions are good for one thing:

Not much else pickable is blooming yet (they know bulb flowers are off limits), but they are not shy about plucking fists full of forsythia, johnny jump ups, and vinca vine flowers. "Here mom! You can put these in a vase!"  What kind of a vase can I stick these in when they leave me an inch of stem?

Years ago I picked up a bunch of mini glass bottles at yard sales for pocket change. I have had them lined up along my pantry window for years and when the season is right, I do like to tuck in little flowers. Only it just occurred to me - why do I hide these in my pantry? It's pretty dark in there - the window gets no direct sunlight. And to be honest, I don't spend as much time as I should standing over my sink. (I almost always have a sink full of dirty pots and pans that didn't fit in the dishwasher or didn't get fully cleaned by the dishwasher.)

So I moved all the little bottles from the pantry windowsill into our dining room, where we spend the most time and can enjoy the beauty of the sun shining in over the little vases full of flowers.

Now my girls can see them and know I do actually save some of the flowers they collect for me on a daily basis. Hey, I'm game for any excuse to bring the outdoors in. And put more yard sale finds to use.

So I had this post 95% done before I put the kids to bed tonight, and they knew nothing of what I was in the middle of writing about. Before I prayed and shut the door, I let each of the girls pick out a page from a new little devotional my mom got them for Easter. My oldest opened up to a page and handed it to me. And this is what it happened to say:

"Let's thank God! Thank God for the little things, the dandelion, the bird that sings. Thank God for the big things too. They come from His great love for you! I will thank the Lord will all my heart. Psalm 111:1"

Yes, I am thankful for the dandelions I suppose, and the joy they bring to our day. I am thankful for the little things.