Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty

Thriftier; Thriftiest 

1. Thriving by industry and frugality: prosperous. 

It's Thrifty Thursday, the time of the week where I share my thrifty finds from garage sales, antique shops, and of course thrift stores.

This weeks find really has no meaning to me, except that it kept Senor Smarty Pants outta my hair for an afternoon. You see, my significant other acts 8, a lot so this toy is a welcome sight for him and maybe me. We went garage saling one morning this was his one purchase. He picked it up and bought it without me really realizing it, he told me he had played with one before and loved it. Now he owns one. Score! He couldn't wait to get home and we were not allowed in this portion of the kitchen.

I really do like this toy though-it's not electronic, it doesn't make noise, it's fun, and you have to think critically. Good buy Senor Smarty Pants!

Oh...it's the little things. 

Blessings!

Happy Birthday Momma!

Today's my Momma's birthday and I would't dare announce how many she's had-that wouldn't be very lady-like of me. But if you see her around or happen on to her facebook page, give her some birthday love. Isn't this picture just the cutest? She was a pretty cute kid-it was hard for me to choose! 

Hope you have a beautiful day Momma, miss you bunches! Happy Birthday! 

Blessings! 

Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty

Thriftier; Thriftiest 

1. Thriving by industry and frugality: prosperous. 

It's Thrifty Thursday, the time of the week where I share my thrifty finds from garage sales, antique shops, and of course thrift stores

So this Thrifty Thursday does not have any nifty pictures to go along with it but it does have a story. I was sitting at the kitchen table with my Grandma this evening and we were talking about saving money. Of course being the wise and experienced woman that she is, she had all kinds of suggestions and ideas but she shared with me one story she had recently heard. It's interesting and thrifty so I thought I would pass it along. Bear in mind that her story was the condensed version of the actual piece and my story will be the condensed version of Grandmas-so some things may get lost in translation. 

There was a woman who had three children at home and she worked from home. That is where she wanted and felt like she needed to be. (I like her already!) Well things in the company shifted and it was decided that employees were to start coming in more often. This woman decided the job no longer fit her lifestyle so she quit and got to thinking, wondering how much money they actually could save by living on one income instead of two. She was thinking differently than I ever had. She wondered about the family with two parents working outside the home. Turns out after she did whatever calculations she had to do, she found out that a two income family has to make 35% more than the single income family to survive. Things like daycare of course come to mind but the other little things, like you don't have time to fix or do things around the house-you hire it done. You need a complete wardrobe for your outside the home job, the expenses just pile up-on things you don't even think about! Fancier phones, cars, and laptops, that suddenly become necessities to "keep up" keep the tab running. This woman revamped her family's life and is totally saving money by not working in the corporate world and paying attention to what her family spends. 

Moral of the story-many cases: you don't actually need two incomes to survive-you need to make different choices. Thrifty! 

Blessings! 

mum's the word monday

Ack-school.

Blessings!

Thrifty Thursday-on a Friday

Sorry about the delay, Thursdays are always a whirlwind and if I don't get my post done in the morning I can pretty much count on it not happening. So without further ado:

Thrifty

Thriftier; Thriftiest 

1. Thriving by industry and frugality: prosperous. 

It's Thrifty Thursday(friday), the time of the week where I share my thrifty finds from garage sales, antique shops, and of course thrift stores. 

Remember those stinking jars I was telling you about? Well they are finally finished and while they are not perfect, I think they will suffice for what I want them for and for my first attempt. I learned a lot we can say.

Yes I see the runs, yes I see the goopy tops of the jars. Yatta yatta. 

I have a bad habit of not like things or not doing things again if they do not come easy the first time. I'm defying that spirit and I will try this craft again! You can bet that if this apartment was mine as well there would have been some lavender and pink jars in the mix. Instead I resorted to blue and an amber like color-manlier mason jars? Here's the link I followed to tint the jars-it's really a good one with lots of great pictures. 

Tonight is the football scrimmage-the night were my parents (and I) can kiss their Friday evenings at home goodbye and say hello to bleacher butt. But really it's fun going and sitting outside with friends and family on the cooler evenings cheering on the boys. I'm thrilled to report that last night we slept with the windows open and right now it's only 63 out! It should be a great evening watching this glorified practice. Evan is number 11 so I should have no problem remembering that! Ok I'm going to put on some socks my feet are cold-I just love saying that after 113 degree weather we've had.

Blessings! 

Up-to-date

Have I been neglecting my blog? Maybe. Have I been squeaking by, by doing the bare minimum? Yeeess.

Sorry about that-I think it's because school is coming quickly and I will soon spend most of my days behind this thing so I'm kinda avoiding the whole machine. So I will update you on a few things.

I'm currently trying to tint some mason jars for Senor Smarty Pant's new apartment He has windows above his kitchen cabinets and I thought they would look cool with light streaming through them-they aren't working though. Something to do with my impatience and inability to read directions. But besides those two issues it's totally not my fault.

Tomorrow is the last night of meeting with my women's Bible study. I am going to miss it so much. For the last 3 weeks it has slowly been getting smaller as girls head out to school. I haven't really blogged much about it but I have learned so much from it and remembered how wonderful it is to have lady friends. One thing I've really latched on to from the study of Ephesians is: Grace. It seems to be my word now. I'm am now very mindful of giving others the Grace I receive everyday-sometimes that's a real challenge for me.

I will be helping out with the newsletter and blogging for Country Drawers in the near future! I'll let you guys know when I post and such so you can toddle right on over there and check out the topic of discussion. I'm so excited about this opportunity!

Well I better get back to those stinking jars. Tomorrow is Thrifty Thursday-get excited!

Blessings!

mum's the word monday

Blessings! 

Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty

Thriftier; Thriftiest 

1. Thriving by industry and frugality: prosperous. 

It's Thrifty Thursday, the time of the week where I share my thrifty finds from garage sales, antique shops, and of course thrift stores. 

We went to the big city this weekend. Sure, we went to the mall and stuff. But the real winner? Goodwill! I found some capris and jeans-I'm telling you I may never every spend $80 on jeans again. Usually I have to go to places in that price range to find jeans long enough and slim enough (woes of a skinny girl). In the last 6 months, however I have really been scoring at garage sales, thrift stores and Goodwills'.

Anyway...

These shoes are just too cute to not feature on the blog!  The jeans are awesome but it's rare to find this nice of shoes in places like this. My Aunt Beth knows the GOOD Goodwills and took us there-like always. We did excellent! These babies show basically no wear and feel like new! They are from Ann Taylor-I'm becoming more "mature" in my shoe brands-look at me growin' up and stuff. 

Blessings! 

A Commercial

I hope the terminology (if you can call it that) doesn't offend anyone but honestly I really enjoy the way they put this. It's normal and realistic enough for the masses and lighthearted enough for people really sit through and watch it. Bottom line is that breasts are part of our anatomy and really, they shouldn't be as off-limits or taboo-in this totally nonsexual context-as we make them, because they serve a purpose-nourishment.

So go into watching this with a lighthearted attitude and listen to some of the things they list-then look them up! They are all true and so interesting! Especially the "It'll make you feel way less crazy." bit, there is so much to this. The hormones that course through a woman's body while she's nursing are all about "bliss." I'm positive I'll blog more about this later. It's incredible.   

There are some other shorter commercials that deliver a similar message just in a shorter time. Check those out too! 

Blessings! 

Sweet 16

Man-that band uniform looks just smashing and I can almost hear those chimes and the rain-stick. Beautiful!

Happy Birthday to a kid with lots of good skillz, many of which he learned from his sweet older sister-obviously. But seriously people this kid is awesome.

Happy Birthday Evie Pie!

Blessings!

mum's the word monday

Blessings!

Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty

Thriftier; Thriftiest 

1. Thriving by industry and frugality: prosperous. 

It's Thrifty Thursday, the time of the week where I share my thrifty finds from garage sales, antique shops, and of course thrift stores. 

We have a big building by our house. The garbage men park their trucks in there. Don't worry it's not smelly at my house. They are empty. One of the garbage men is named Doug. He loves old things and dumpster diving-I think that's why he seems to enjoy being a garbage man. We have gotten lots of cool things from Doug over the years, taking advantage of his "sickness" as he calls it. Dougs' major weakness is bikes. 

About a year ago I told Doug I wanted a bike. A vintage bike or a vintage looking bike. Well look what appeared in front of our garage. 

Whooo! I'm so happy about it. My $3.00 Lucky jeans that I found at a garage sale were going to be my thrifty thursday photos but the bike beat it. So now I get to trick it out. I feel like it's an episode of "Trick My Truck." Minus the trucks, smoke stacks, plasma tvs and bad acting-so really it's nothing like the show. But whatever.

In honor of World Breastfeeding week I have Thrifty facts for you:

"A study conducted in 2001 on the economic impact of breastfeeding for three illnesses—otitis media, gastroenteritis, and NEC—found that increasing the proportion of children who were breastfed in 2000 to the targets established 

in Healthy People 2010 would have saved an estimated $3.6 billion annually."

"A more recent study that used costs adjusted to 2007 dollars and evaluated costs associated with additional illnesses and diseases (sudden infant death syndrome, hospitalization for lower respiratory tract infection in infancy, atopic dermatitis, childhood leukemia, childhood obesity, childhood asthma, and type 1 diabetes mellitus) found that if 90 percent of U.S. families followed guidelines to breastfeed exclusively for six months, the United States would save 

$13 billion annually from reduced direct medical and indirect costs and the cost of premature death. If 80 percent of U.S. families complied, $10.5 billion per year would be saved."

These facts are from the 2011 Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding.

Sounds pretty thrifty to me. 

Blessings!

August 1

Soo...I have this passion. Something I just kinda discovered, the information was brought to my attention by Dr. Stolzer and I just couldn't seem to get enough. I've read everything I've stumbled upon and continue to seek out information. 

I haven't really been open about it because well, it's breastfeeding. And I'm sorry men and boys who are reading this blog and you become uncomfortable-for that matter women too. Except, I'm not really sorry. Because there's nothing sexual or inappropriate about it-it's nourishment and bonding. Is it intimate? Of course. Does that mean it should be hid? Absolutely not-ever. 

So why haven't I been posting about this and screaming it from the rooftops? It's certainly not because I'm embarrassed, believe me! If it was brought up in conversations-I'd be all over it! But when I came home just bursting at the seams with information and wanted to share, the responses I received were a little hard on my ego. I had all these thoughts, opinions and concerns, I had facts, numbers, and scientific reasonings and no one really wanted to hear it. I get it, we don't really have in depth discussions about this topic, but that was kinda my point-we ignore it-out of sight, out of mind. And it is really too important to do that, we have too many issues that stem from this basic part of human activity to just pretend it's not there, or that it doesn't need talked about. But then again I didn't really realize it was a big problem until my class.

Senor Smarty Pants would listen though, because-well he's a little nerdy like me. Another reason why I am convinced that he is the only one who could truly put up with me. So when I would say something to others I was met with sweet responses, no real challenging responses, not really any further questions, usually just a quick segue into the next subject. 

I didn't get why no one else cared. Why didn't people see that this is a cultural issue-one that's affecting our children's health and well-being? Could it be that people just didn't take me seriously? Did I need to have a child, nurse it, and then become an advocate? But I didn't want to wait that long. I didn't feel like I could wait that long, like I was supposed to wait that long. I felt like God presented me with this information now-to do something with.

I realized I don't have to be a momma or even an expectant momma to care. I don't have to be a mom to read the research and share my knowledge. If we relied only on people who were directly involved or affected by the issues they stood for- would there be many people left standing? So I do not have to be a mother to be passionate about the things I am. I do not have stay tight lipped until I have some real-world experience. I do have to make sure I hear people when they speak, that I do not minimize their experience, that I present them with the proper facts, direct them to wonderful organizations. Hopefully teach them a thing or two about their bodies and how awesome it is to be not only a woman, but a mammal! (nerd moment)

So the 1-7 of August is World Breastfeeding week. We are supporting women, supporting babies, in doing the most natural and nurturing act that exists, in giving their babies the absolute optimal nutrition on the face of planet. Not to guilt those who, for whatever reason could not breastfeed, or chose not to-but to simply support those who did-because frankly in this country thats who needs the support. We don't live in a very breastfeeding friendly land.

I just love this picture: 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150983866957671&set=a.10150913498662671.414041.202794322670&type=1&theater

Sometimes people say that breastfeeding advocates overreact. I'm convinced however, we simply react. In so many hospitals today mothers who intend to breastfeed are sent home with a diaper bag from a formula company filled with things plastered in the company's logo and cans of formula. "Just in case?" Lactation consultants are not always accessible and because of the culture we live in sometimes going to our mother, sister, or aunt is like asking a rock how it's all supposed to work. Sadly most of our own doctors are not trained in human lactation. We have kids that have rotting teeth, bad eating habits, and weight issues. We have mothers suffering from PPD and feeling overwhelmed by the varying opinions and information swirling around them. All of this could be helped with education, research based facts, from people who genuinely care about a humans well-being not dollar signs. 

Don't even get me started on how amazing the composition of human milk is. It's just crazy how God created all of this-this perfect food designed specifically for the littlest and cutest of humans. So I'm posting my first breastfeeding post on the first day of World Breastfeeding Week and it won't be the last. I promise this will not become some breastfeeding blog or a cosleeping, or babywearing, or pro intact blog, I'm interested in way too many things for that to happen. I'm going to leave you all with a link Le Leche League is an awesome breastfeeding site. It has wonderful articles. and resources-even certified lactation consultants are listed so you can find one close to you. 

Feels good to have that all off my chest. 

Whew, this post got long fast. 

Blessings!