Last Day of May Updates

1. I talked to our realtor yesterday. He said the extra lot is ours!! Yaaaaaaayy! He even offered the remaining lot to us if these people aren’t interested that are looking at it. wow. So very excited.

2. A new season of HGTV Design Star just started this past Tuesday. I haven’t watched it yet but can’t wait! It is definitely my guilty pleasure of the summer. I like to pick a few of my favorites from the first show and see how far they go.

3. Right now I am reading  two books- The Prosperous Heart by Julia Cameron and Debt-Proof Living by Mary Hunt. Because, you know, I have so much time on my hands.

4. It feels like summer has already started because the boys are at each others’ throats already and driving me crazy. So, on a recent trip to Wal-Mart I made an impulse buy. Something that makes me feel good and helps to calm me. It may seem like a waste of money to some, but it will help to keep my sanity. Sharpie markers and drawing pencils.

4. I went to my Chiropractor yesterday. I started listing all my ailments to him so he could know where to work. They included irritability, feeling lazy, tired, and extra sensitive among other things. I started realizing no amount of adjustments was going to be a magic cure-all. I need to take responsibility for myself and make some changes. Physically, mentally, and spiritually.

5. We are going to my dad’s house this weekend. It has been way too long and I am beyond thrilled. I plan to do some digging in the barn and around the property. We’ll see what I find.

Have a great day everyone! Get outside and enjoy this weather. High 60’s to Mid 70’s is my favorite temperature range. Love it!

Interesting Estate Sale

My posse and I went to an estate sale last week Thursday. It was about a half hour away in North Muskegon. I had seen the pictures online and thought it looked good.

The homeowner had been an owner of a few McDonald’s in the area. It was a beautiful home in an even more beautiful neighborhood.

She had lots of McDonald’s Happy Meal display cases and toys. Even all the old glasses you could purchase at McDonald’s. It was fun to look at. My favorite part is seeing the inside of people’s homes though…:)

She had some beautiful pieces. One piece I came looking for was this-

But, sadly, it had sold the day before.

I really liked this cedar chest- but didn’t need it.

I instantly fell in love with this piece-

But it was a little pricey. $895.00. Then I discovered everything was 1/3 off.

hhmmm…tempting…but still too much to store my fabrics in for my craft room.

Then I saw this-

It was huge. Massive! With a price tag to match. $850. But with 1/3 off. Then I learned everything was going to be 1/2 off at 2:30pm. It was around 11am. We couldn’t wait around because we had to get my mom-in-law back. But I was thinking about going back for it.

But I didn’t.

I just bought these for about $2-

Old, busted up clay pots- why not?!

Oh, and the boys found some little McD’s magnifying glasses and JJ got a bag of little toys.

The boys have had fun burning bugs and leaves with their magnifying glasses. Hey- anything that keeps them occupied and outdoors! Ha!

I’m excited to see what is in store as far as estate sales this summer. Bring ‘em on !

Thanks for looking.

Good Food & Beach Fun

Yesterday was a good day.

My JJ was feeling better. He didn’t need pain medicine all day. Thanks to those that prayed!

We had family come over for good food and fellowship.

I didn’t get a picture until after the food was almost gone. I was hungry!

Steak, hot dogs, 7-layer dip, watermelon, deviled eggs, homemade cole slaw, pink salad (official name), fresh fruit with fruit dip and strawberry pie.

YUM!

Later in the evening we made a trip out to the beach. Wow! What a temperature difference as we neared the water. It dropped about fifteen degrees. It was great!

And we got to see this great big barge making its way down the channel.

Then we walked along the (freezing) water a little and watched the lightening bolts along the water as some storms rolled in.

A great end to an otherwise frustrating weekend.

Hope you all had a great/fun/relaxing/safe weekend!

And the Weekend Rolls On

Are you all having a good weekend? Big holiday plans? Maybe a cookout?

We are having a cookout today. Lots of yummy food. I look forward to seeing family.

But our weekend, for the most part, was not great. We have a sickie on our hands. My youngest has some sort of an infection. He has had a fever up and down and up and down. And when it's up.... it's really bad. Motrin will hardly touch it. He's so miserable and all I can do when he's like that is hold him and pray and cry. And when the medicine helps he is playing like normal.

Please pray that this passes very soon. It's been 3 days so far.










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Track & Field Day

I remember loving track and field day when I was a kid. The weather was usually beautiful. I loved the thrill of the competition. We didn’t have to do any school work at all. It was the best.

Last year I heard about a Homeschool Track & Field day. The boys were all excited about it. Even my Noah who doesn’t like to try anything new. But he loves sports.

We participated again this year. It was on Wednesday this past week.The weather was perfect. Here are some pictures I got.

Some of the events- 50 yard dash, 100 yard dash, broad jump, long jump, tennis ball throw, softball throw and relay race.

My three-year-old could have participated but I didn’t sign him up. He was disappointed. I will definitely let him next year. He got very bored.

We had a great day and the boys won some ribbons. It was great fun.

Everyone have a great weekend!

This Time Last Year

I thought it would be interesting to find a picture from around this timeframe last year.

This is what I found-

It is crazy to see how much the boys have changed in just one year! We all have. I dropped a little bit of weight. Cole has grown some teeth and grown in height. Noah has thinned out a little. Ethan has less chubby to his cheeks now and is starting to fill out into a teenager. Jayce has grown a lot and his hair isn’t so blonde anymore.

Crazy.

My brother, Nate, took this picture for us when we were at my dad’s for Memorial weekend. We always go up and have a cookout on Monday.

We can’t do that this year. Ethan has a baseball tournament for most of the weekend. It is an hour south. My dad lives an hour north of us. We won’t feel like traveling all that way once the tournament is over.

I was a little resentful at first.

But it has worked out for the better. My sister and nephew are coming to Shelby the following weekend. So we are planning the cookout for that Sunday. Yay! I haven’t seen my nephew in at least two years.

He’s grown up so much since I’ve seen him last.

Time is fleeting.

So cliché, but so true.

I snapped this picture the other day when I was coming out of swimming lessons.

I love the trees that look chippy and peeling like that. But I love that beautiful sunshine even more. Looks like we will have a lot of it for this weekend. Are you making big plans?

I think I will have to break out the slip’n’slide!

I’m going to an estate sale today. I’ll snap some pictures of all the goodies for you. Have a great day!

Wednesday Updates

1. I haven’t heard anything from my realtor yet.:/

2. I’m getting bored with my hair. Someone come over and confiscate my scissors- please.

3. I made this for supper yesterday. Got it from Pinterest. It was pretty good but I used regular cream of mushroom soup and added in garlic and I didn’t have enough sour cream. Served it with rice. Super easy.

via

4. We have a baseball or softball game every night this week. Two nights are double booked with games!

5. This is what my 3-year old thinks is Sunday afternoon entertainment. Stack toys on sleeping victims.

 

Disguises have been made to protect the innocent

6. We have a homeschool track & field day today. The boys are pumped!

7. This kid cracks me up everyday- without fail.

Look at those sparkling clean fingernails

His face is always dirty

8. I made Scott and the boys watch some episodes of Duck Dynasty with me last night. They are officially hooked. (Well, Ethan is anyway)

9. I’m absolutely hating my Insanity workouts right now.

10. If you don’t have a subscription to Better Homes & Gardens or need to renew your subscription- check Here. It’s an amazing price at 50 cents an issue. I love mine!

Happy Hump Day! 9 days of school left and counting!!!

Property Line Pow-Wow

We met with our realtor at the Perry House yesterday. Yay!!!!

Behind the house looking toward it

Behind the house looking toward the cemetery

Looking at the new house being built next door

It went great. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but there is a possibility to have even more land than we thought possible.

For those that don’t know- We are trying to buy a house (that is being rented and won’t be available for the next who-knows-how-many months) from a builder and we needed to decide on the back property line before finalizing anything.

I did a mock-up of the property in Photoshop so you guys can get a clearer picture of what is going on. It is by no means accurate in measurement but just a guideline. Please excuse it’s crude nature.

These were the property lines when we first looked at the house.

We weren’t crazy about it because the back property line cut part of the shed off. We weren’t sure if we wanted to keep the shed but we at least wanted the option available.

So, last week I suggested a different setup of the way the property is divided up. When we met yesterday we started discussing those changes.

It looked like this-

I liked the idea of having more property behind us. I love the nice flat area that extends to 106th Avenue and hate to lose it. But I would rather my kids be playing in the back of the house than along the road.

Then our realtor told us there is someone interested in the lot next to the cemetery. They would like a little more room to the lot than there is. So I suggested there be only two lots and we pay a little more (as in $25,000 more) to get more property. This would be a dream come true. We would have more room than I ever dreamed possible. Our realtor said the builder may be open to this idea, but he needs to meet with him to talk about it.

I cannot even believe how awesome this would be!

We would be mortgaging a higher amount and so in return we would have the builder do less work on the house than we talked about. We would be doing more of the work ourselves. Which is okay with me. Scott, on the other hand, not as happy about it I’m sure.

So that is the latest news. Hope my handy-dandy diagrams helped you to visualize what I’m talking about.  As soon as I hear anything more I will let you know!

Thanks for looking!

Light Tent

I made a light tent. This idea came from the book I mentioned on Friday. It was oh so simple and I made it using things I had on hand.

I took a big box and cut square openings in three sides. Then I covered those openings with wax paper. I had some leftover bead board paneling that was almost a perfect size already. I lined the bottom of the box with the paneling. I turned the box on it’s side and took some unused laminate flooring to put along the only full cardboard side.

Here is how it looked-

The light tent would be used to take pictures of smaller things. This is not something I do a lot of, but since it was free to make I thought- why not? And I can use it to take any pictures of crafts I want to show you and they’ll come out beautifully.

Here is how my beautiful water bottle subject looked in the middle of making the light tent.

By the time I was done with the tent it was late. But the boys were excited about taking some pictures with it so they set up some army men. The lighting and color does not look great because it was dark out.

And here are some shots I did the next day- in daylight- with a prettier subject.

The lighting is so wonderful inside the box. I wish I could fit people in there to take pictures of- that is my favorite thing to photograph.

That’s an interesting idea…..hhmmmm…

Here is the picture after playing in Photoshop-

Cheesy- I know. But I like it.

Some things will be happening concerning the house this week- stay tuned!!

p.s. Has anyone watched The Vow? I was pretty disappointed in the ending :( But definitely worth watching!