Thank you yard sales for blessing my life!

I'm sure some of you think I'm crazy when I say God leads me to good deals, but I firmly and truely know that he does. A huge way is through yard sales! Big surprise, I know...
but I am convinced that Heavenly Father loves us, he cares about us and when we have a righteous desire, no matter how small, he helps us!
Here's just a few examples...
*My slipper situation. I love slippers. I wear them almost all day long and it makes me sad when they are in the laundry because my feet miss them. Up until Christmas, I had 1 pair- my leapord ones that I wore down so much they were molded to my feet and honestly falling apart! The stuffing was coming out and I kept shoving it back in, but I realized I would need a new pair soon. I asked Santa for a pair and got them (Because I picked them out!) Long story short, I made the mistake of wearing them outside while I did a project and they had a billion leaf particles stuck in them. I washed them a 100 times, but the fabric held onto those itchy leaves and I couldn't bare to stick my feet in them any longer. 2 weeks ago I had to throw my leopard slippers away and I seriously struggled. I knew I would be slipperless, and I didn't have $ 10.00 to get new ones, but I threw them away and secretely asked God to help me. Last weekend I found brand new ones at a yard sale for .50!!! And I love them!
We also prayed to find silverware- and we found some (I'm making wild windchimes these days!) Not only that, a month ago, the same time I started making windchimes, my brother in law picked up a 20 pound box of silverware at a thrift store without knowing why, he just felt that there was some reason he should grab them! Little did he know that I was the reason!!! I honestly felt so blessed on Mother's day when he was over and I showed him my projects and he just shook his head because he realized that the reason he picked them up was so he could help me! What a blessing!
Then on to the canning jars- I was given 2 boxes a month ago at a yard sale, I bought a ton more last weekend for $ 2.00- and the list goes on and on! I am so grateful for yard sales!!!
So, onto the chest- I painted it last night and love it! I still have the inside to paint, a little distressing to do to it and maybe some pillows to make- but I love it! It is kinda sad when you spend more or the paint than you did for the item- but oh well!
If you have anything you are looking for- let me know and I'll keep my eyes open for you!

A little dilema...

So, I found this beauty at a yard sale for $ 5.00 the other day- and my original thought was to resell it on craigslist- but after looking at it for about 5 seconds, I concluded that I wanted to keep it instead! It has major potintial, and I invisioned it in white to match the kids furniture in their rooms, but with no space there- I plan to put it downstairs near the back door- but all the furniture down there is black- so what do I do???
I think it might drive me nuts to have mismatched furniture colors- but eventually I think I want it in the kids room (it opens up!!!) but I'm only sanding and painting this bad boy once, so what do I do???
Paint it white and live with my craziness of not wanting different furniture colors- so eventually I can put it in their room?
*OR*
Paint it black to match where it will probably be for a really long time?

A new respect for dying fish...

I know this is really silly, but I have a new respect for fish- I was just out in the shed organizing a bit and I got a fish hook stuck in the side of my finger near my knuckle! Luckily it didn't go very deep- but it wasn't pleasent pulling it out. It just made me feel really sorry for all those dying fish out there with hooks in their mouths! Poor babies...

Biting open the syrup bottle...

Trav made breakfast yesterday for Mother's Day, and I had to get a picture of Willow biting open the syrup bottle!

Muddy feet...

The kids dug a huge hole last week and turned the hose on to fill it up. Grace got a little muddy- but, yeah, at least they were playing OUTSIDE!!!
Yeah for Spring!

Tristin's Concert...

I'm so thrilled that these were the only crappy pictures I got at Tristin's school concert last week- my battery died too, so this is what we got!
We were really proud of him, actually. It's hard enough being an almost 9 year old boy, plus singing in front of a ton of grown ups- but he did, and he did great! I love this little guy.

A very long day...

Trav has been working a few hours of overtime last week and yesterday & today so our incredible sleep schedule has been thrown off a bit. Let's just say that 3:45 AM is a hard pill to swallow. yesterday was one of those SUPER long days of running errands with the kids and 18 trips later- we were pretty tired. Here's how it went:

# 1- Drop the kids off at school at 8:00AM
# 2- Albertsons- to do doublers
# 3- Dentist- to pay a bill
# 4- Walmart- to use double coupons
# 5- Different Albertsons to get Bagel bites
# 6- Home to drop off all my groceries
# 7- Bank- to cash check & check on debit card
# 8- Fred Meyer- to get some more deals
# 9- Costco- to get milk and veggies
# 10- Micheal's to get beading wire
# 11- Back home to put food away and wait for kids
# 12- back to Albertson for refried beans
# 13- Post Office to get boxes
# 14- G-ma's house to pick up debit card
# 15- Back home to get Dad
# 16 Sister Izatt's house to get Pinewood Derby Stuff
# 17 Michelle's house to drop off a baby present
# 18- Back home to get ready for bed

... Trav & I were in bed and almost asleep by 9:00 PM- priceless!

You know you've couponing a long time when...

... your favorite cashier from Albertson's calls you at home to let you know they will be changing their registers and just wants to give you a "heads up".

My sweet friend (yes, she's actually a friend!) JJ, called me last week 3 times just to let me know there would be some changes to their registers. She called Trav's phone once, my phone once & then fianlly left 2 messages on mine! Who does that? Only my sewet, wonderful cashier named JJ. I thought it was the most adorable thing ever- it kind of melted my heart! (Trav has been over to her house to fix her computer once too,so we kinda watch each other's backs!)
After you spend years and a couple hundred hours with someone/people, you become close to them and have a little relationship. you learn about their lives, their crappy marriages, their finicial problems, their sleeping habits,their failing classes, their horse events, their grandkids, their vacations, & you even share recipies through out the week and report back to each other. It's great when my kids call everyone by name too, it's weird I know, but it kinda feels like home, or at least my second home, because somedays I practically live there!

No, I'm not hiding... just recovering...

It's been a week since my last post! (insert gasp here!) I know, I can hardly believe it either- but I've been a little "extra" busy over here. Angie & I singly handedly put on another yard sale this past weekend, and we are both trying to recoup from that wonderful experience!

If you have had a yard sale where you have 8 people's items, are picking up everyone's stuff, driving around town to collect as many tables as possible, pricing for weeks, setting up for days, putting out signs, trying to get 4 kids ready and out the door by 6:15 AM to drive to Meridian, putting out signs in the snow,keeping track of everyone's money, having the sale for 2 days in CRAZY weather, then taking down the sale, cleaning up the area, then cleaning up the house that was trashed for days, dividing up everyone's stuff, boxing up everyone's items, trying to organize it in the van so you can return it to people, adding up everyone's money, dividing that into 8 envelopes, picking up signs, returning tables, unpacking your own stuff, getting everything put back in the shed & then returning home to normal life to collapse into bed- then you know what it's like to survive a yard sale!!!
I love having them, honestly, I do- they are just a ton of work!!! It was a blast though over at Angie's for days before and then days during- it was great to hang out, talk to funny people and see how many people would try to talk you down on prices. We ate more junk food than should be discussed, laughed at silly people and debated if we should even start the sale while we were putting signs out in the SNOW!! I told her to have faith, (the size of a mustard seed, right?) that the weather would improve, and it did! Although cold & windy- we had a great turn out and we sold a bunch of stuff and made a few pennies too!
I can't even tell you how much I love my sweet Angie. She is honestly one of the most selfless people I have ever known. I wish I would have counted how many times she had to get up to get something for someone, myself included! (but hey, she made me funeral potatoes, I had to eat right???!) She is simply amazing. I love her like a sister and I thank God for her everyday. We laugh, we joke, we love and we eat a lot of candy together. We had a great, exausting time together- I can't wait to do it again- I love you Miss Angie!

Tristin's Field Day...

Yesterday the girl's and I braved the rain and sat outside huddled in a ball watching Tristin's field day!It was at 9:00 AM, so we got poured on. We were under dressed, umbrella-less and the girl's were freezing. Tristin did great and won 4 ribbons! 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th place! He was kind of nervous about it before, but I think it wore off as soon as he started running & jumping!( and yes, I did go back home for dry clothes, thicker coats and hot chocolate!)