'Stay, stay at home and rest. Homekeeping hearts are happiest.' ~ Author Unknown.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

~Tis Elder Lindsay's 20th!!!!!!!

Elder Lindsay, left, with one of his Camp Morrison buddies in the MTC

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!!!!

Yes, my oldest is 20 today, and I can hardly believe it because we just brought him home from the hospital a week ago Thursday! And today he is turning 20! Wow, how time flies.

David LOVES applesauce, and can chug a quart all by himself......


He can work on a car, when he HAS to......


And he and sister Sarah can chill with the best of them, even feeding the ducks in a far away town......

David was easy going as a child, and from attending a Boise State Football game, to working at Camp Morrison, showing his skill in a chess game, and even locking his keys in his car about a dozen times in one month, he is a blessing to our family and a huge joy in our lives. We wouldn't trade him in for anything!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

~'Tis a Thrift Store Thursday!~



I think I need to be put on heart medication.......

I am still palpitating over the colonial pencil post bed I found this Spring, and what do I find? This settee in WONDERFUL condition for $17.00! I am no where near having a heart condition, but if I keep this up, I may cause one to come upon myself!!!! I want to learn how to do some light reupholstering, so guess this is the piece to learn on. I can just see this in a real colonial fabric. Maybe paint the legs black. It is sitting just as it is in my home right now, but oh how I have come to LOVE TS shopping. People throw away the most AMAZING things!!! When I found it, my daughter Sarah was with me and we actually christened her new little truck (new to her anyway) and it was the first thing she got to 'haul'.

Also, have been getting caught up on some customer quilting. I did manage to squeeze in one of my own quilts to quilt. I have been toying with entering it in a local quilt show. I love going to quilt shows, enjoy the vendor isles, and my hand melts when it touches good fabric. But quilt shows are not why I make my own quilts. I want them to be used, cuddled in, used in decorating, and thrown over sofas and chairs, not made for display in a quilt show. The quilts I make are for family, my home, and myself. I enjoy the PROCESS of making them, not finishing them to enter in a show. Anyway, I did get one done, and the binding is not tacked to the back of this one yet, but I did get one quilt project finished and off my summer 'to-do with joy' list. Here it is on my Gammill:


And here it is all done:



This morning was such a beauty as I was on my walk. Going to be almost 100 today and then over 100 for the next 2 before it gets a little cooler. I do not do heat well at all! That's okay; my favorite seasons are right around the corner - fall and winter!

Blessings on your Day,

Shanda

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

On Being 'Thrifty'........

I truly believe that there is so much we can live without, and even more that we can do for ourselves to be a bit more thrifty and less wasteful. I have been doing some canning, bing cherries for starters, and have frozen some HUGE Marionberries, and for those who live in the Midwest and on the East Coast, they are like a very large blackberry. These that I picked from a very generous neighbor, were bigger than my thumb!! But while I have been preserving and saving summers bounty to imbibe in on a cold winter's day, I have actually been filled with the spirit of 'thriftiness and self-reliance'. I WANT TO BE THRIFTY! I love work, any kind of work, but work within my homeplace is the best of all. Our family has been busy with all kinds of work: fencing, planting grape vines, quilting, cleaning, gardening, auto repairs, painting, weeding, canning/preserving, studying, serving our neighbors, and even a little playing. Sometimes playing IS work, especially when the ol' body is not wanting to move! Guess what I am trying to say is that no matter what our occupation for the day or week, being thrifty is wise.

The first paragraph in 'The American Frugal Housewife' states this:

"The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments, so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time, as well as materials. Nothing should be thrown away so long as it is possible to make any use of it, however trifling that use may be; and whatever be the size of a family, every member should be employed either in earning or saving money."

What are you doing today to be thrifty?


Blessings on your Work Day!

Shanda