feeling orange!

new orange craft fabric- found at salvation army 1/2 off sale.

i have no plans for this, but it sure is perky!

you are welcome to click on the picture and use it

for your own craft needs or desktop.

i just picked up this book cold tangerines by shauna niequist.

.50 cents at salvation army.

why it ended up on the bottom shelf at salvation army,

is a mystery to me? why didn't the previous

owner keep it? why didn't she give it to a friend?

remarkably real and sweetly written. here's the link to

shauna's cold tangerines website... you can read a few

chapters on-line.

i just received this! can you guess what it is?

yep! it's an orange tree! my mother-in-law

brought it back for me from florida.

orange jell-o.
how can you possibly feel the winter blues with
this looking at you? cheap thrill!

i did it. i finished the grapes of wrath. the book was spectacular. outside of the bible, it's the best i've ever read. the beginning was slow and i admit, i wondered what i got myself into. as the story progressed with a titanical thrust, i felt i actually had a relationship with the characters and a certain connection. i felt steinbeck's voice echoing in my head... as if he was reading it to me. his simultaneous writing levels of human existence reflects much of what is happening today, 2010. the greed. families loosing homes, their dignity, farms and traumatic job loss, big business slaughtering small business, and yes those of us drawing on the spirituality of each other to survive in these times, our commitment to fellow man and the earth we inhabit. i will most defiantly be reading this again. and again. and again. yes-it's that good. the grapes of wrath, is a lyric in the battle hymn of the republic. in turn, the battle hymn of the republic refers to biblical passage in revelations 14:19-20.

in the souls of the people, the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.

okay... now that i spilled my passion for this profound nobel prize winner... how about taking a look at this recycled pillow i made out of dyed fleece (i used kool-aid) and recycled flowers from an old skirt. the pillow- retro green from the 70's came from goodwill. .99 cents.

letter g

hello girlfriends!

my oh my....have i been busy being green, today!

and, happily frugal, too!

see how my dishes sparkle and glow? i made homemade dish-washer detergent!

gosh-oh-golly....what's the secret, you're wondering?

here's my frugilly-earth friendly recipe:

1 part arm and hammer washing soda and 1 part borax. then fill the little rinse cup with white vinegar. that's it... i'm serious.... the dishes came out squeaky clean~ after i realized how fantastic the dishes came out.... i made a big batch to keep under the sink!

next up... i successfully made two breathtaking batches of powedered laundry detergent. why am i using breathtaking as an adjective, here? because... the recipe called for castile soap- which i found on sale in the organic isle at kroger's... and it's almond-scented! it smells luscious.



my brad, figured out that the batches probably cost me about .50 cents each, to make. i'm not sure how many loads i'll get... but i have 1/3 of the bucket above filled~ i doubled the batch.

here's the recipe, below:

this weekend...

i finished the outstanding, new york times bestseller, the red tent. my opinion? although this was historical fiction and does not accurately follow the Bible... i think the author did a stellar job... pulling one line out of the book of genesis and creating a captivating, 300 plus page book about a lady the Bible only mentions once. talk about someone having a brilliant imagination... the author deserves a nod. and lots of them~

smile, wink, nod.

eye opening book!

i was a bit lazy in december, when it came to reading. now that the major celebrations are behind me, i decided to open the pages of anita diamant's biblical historical fiction, "the red tent."

wow. my-oh-my. yowza. and captivating.... are words that do not do this heavy book justice. it's more like..... "eye's wide open," to me!

it would make a fabulous ladies book club book.

with many on-line discussion questions.

click here for the description!

what is your nose buried in this week?

just a dime, a new book and a close call!

today, i found this collection of really vintage, shabby chic, banged up pot holders at an estate sale. they were a dime each. oh, how i love them. i wish they could talk to me and give me some good old fashioned recipes!

i felt quite like magpie ethel today.. you can find her fantastic blog on my sidebar. she is wild about estate sales and finds some really unique things.


last night, i started an awesome new historical fiction! it's called, plain language. it's about the dirty 30's and the depression. i know so very little about the dust bowl and that historical era. it is just a feel good book!

prayers work. my mom is traveling home from vermont today. she went with friends on a bus trip to a primitive rug hooking school. late this afternoon, i had this strange feeling that i should say a quick prayer for her safe travel home. just had this feeling. an hour later she called and said the bus they were traveling in blew out a front tire... when that happens, the driver looses control, which happened. a pick up was nearby and "almost" got it. all are fine... the bus stopped at a local tim hortons and they're waiting for the tire to be fixed. exhale.

have a happy saturday night, and i'll see you tomorrow. smile, wink, nod.

p.s. family movie tonight: the wizard of oz.

i'm just 30 pages exactly, from finishing this book by Kaye Gibbons, A Virtuous Woman. odd, yes. unlike anything i've ever read. in all honestly, i'm waiting to "get it"... you know, that part in the book where you say... ah-ha! clever. or so that's the author's intent! i'm not there yet... i'm sure the climax is right around the corner.

so, what book is in your hands?

on wednesday

fall flower bouquets on my windowsills. i just used odd clear jars. less is more, sometimes.

what is it about dropping stuff off at goodwill? i always have to take a minute and saunter through the store. pink tags were half off today. this skirt practically jumped into my cart. it even had a pink tag on it. making it just $1. i'm excited to wear it to church with cowboy boots! by the way, did i tell you that on church sunday.... the 5-pc. band played the beatles song, "when i'm 64?" when everyone entered. the congregation was just beaming and grooving. popular Christian songs followed of course.

tonight, i'll start this book. miss julia paints the town. it looks pretty quirky. and i'll welcome that, after my last read, light on snow by anita shreve... it was thought-provoking and heavy.

what's new wednesday?

a new book: a good woman by danielle steele. i've never read a danielle steele book, but this is on loan to me from my aunt. and it's very good.

what book is in your hand's this week?

more tomorrow... today, wednesday was overwhelming.

trying to read while cow's are giving birth!

i finally wrapped up, "the other bolyen girl," while i was at the fair yesterday. read it in between waiting for tommie's rabbit showmanship and breed classes and barn duty. we were there from 8 am until 8 at night. it's not as easy as one might think, that is... to read historical fiction from the 1500's, while lambs were baaaaaing, turkey's gobbling and roosters bellowing, cow's mooing and oh yeah, cows giving birth... click here to see cow-birthing pics, that i took. warning: we were up close and personal... pictures might be upsetting to weak tummies. now, back to books.... there was nothing i didn't like about this 630 page book. plain and simple... i love historical fiction. after finishing boleyn and the author's notes, i pulled from my backpack, an anita shreve novel, "the last time they met." although, not a historical fiction in anyway, i look forward to learning details about kenya and new vocab. i am knee-deep in novels... many i've picked up brand new from salvation army for just .25 ... like the ones pictured above. so..... you know the question's coming..... tell me, what is your nose buried in? leave a comment for all of us!

smile, wink, nod.

NOTIONS, NEW BOOK AND NEST!

N: A NEST of Eastern BLUEBIRD eggs, in our bluebird box, at the back of the property. Two years in a row! And, how awesome is this? While doing dishes the past few days, I've been watching one of the new parents slurping up insects...right outside my kitchen window- then flying back to feed the babies! Sure makes doing dishes a little more pleasant!

N is for sewing notions, too! Recently, I was at the .25 cent store and picked up this vintage lace, ribbon and rick rack...4 for .25 cents. I'm not completely sure what I'll do with the ribbon. However, my cousin has her order in, for me to make more homemade gift tags. Which I really enjoy doing!

N is for the NEW book that my nose in buried in! My friend Matt loaned it to me. He and his wife, are in awe of how life changing this book is. They are both Christians and swear this is the best book they've read...outside the Bible. I'm on chapter 4. Have you heard of this book? If so what's your opinion?

about friday, saturday and sunday, which hasn't really happened yet.

about friday night:

ewww-weeeee! was i pumped up all day! i had planned to go to a "come and learn about couponing, cut grocery bills and other thrifty tips" at our church. with note book in hand, one last look in my rear view mirror, to make sure i didn't have lettuce stuck in my teeth, i skipped into the building. out of 200 emails, only six people showed up. okay, i thought...doesn't matter, because obviously these woman are hard-core clippers! my heart began to beat rapidly. i thought for sure, certainly... these woman were going to teach me things i never knew. the meeting started at 6:30. one lady spoke for about five minutes or so and then had to split. i listened to the other woman complain about their lives, their kids, their in-laws, their co-workers, their childbirths, what kind of butter they like and don't like...complain, complain, complain. my big blue eyes darting from one person to another...thinking what am i doing here? i lied. yes. right there in church. a big fat lie. God forgive me please, but I can't take anymore. i meekly and with much submission in my voice said... "thanks ladies, but i have to go... i told my husband i'd be home by 8." truth is, i don't think they missed me.

about saturday:

awoke early and fixed up to go to the .25 cent store. it's expanded you know. and it even has shopping carts. i found one brand new tee shirt for brad. just a plain old grey v-neck, for work. i stopped at a garage sale. it had a bright neon pink sign, that read huge garage sale. and, it was nice. i bought nothing. i'm thinking the person running it was pretending she had a retail store going on...since everything was overpriced. example: usborne first book of spanish $6. and a pair of used socks for $1. and well, you get the idea. i headed home.

stopped off at mcdonalds for a sweet tea and crispy ranch wrap. spent a good deal of time out in the gardens, transplanting iris' and planting onions.

i read on hot coupon world. com that if you go to Kraftfoods.com and click on coupons, you'll be able to print-off $50. worth. i did. i printed out a ton. i will be saving most of them to use at store that double, since many are a dollar! i also spent a great deal of time on budget101.com, printing off homemade mixes to make. there is even a link to copy cat recipes, where i printed off arby's bbq sauce.

sunday: my plans for today, church in a few minutes. couponing. harvesting the rhubarb in the picture. i plan to make jam out of it. hope to write more in my children's novel...lots of ideas consuming my mind and taking me to places i've never been...my nose has been pressed against the pages of my research books... and then, back to church for free movie night. smile, wink, nod.

simple living!

Sunday's newspaper was loaded full of coupons! In case you're a newbie to couponing...do you know the trick is to buy one paper... flip through the inserts and see if there are coupons you use? If so...then head back to the newsstand and purchase several more copies! This past weekend, there were so many coupons on products that we DO use...I bought four copies! And, clipped away! We were completely out of groceries on Sunday...so, I bit the bullet and headed into Meijers (crazy!) to shop. I ended up saving $80.00 with coupons.


I've always and forever wanted one of these see through planters...for viewing roots! On Friday, at our homeschool co-op... one of the members was selling this- new in the box-for just $2.00! I snatched it up! Started brain storming, how I could turn it into something shabby-chic...and remembered my spring paints stashed in my basement! This is how it turned out! (below). I'm growing radishes, onions and carrots. I plan to use this each and every Spring...until I'm 90.

On my nightstand this week, is this terrific book titled, Coloring Outside the Lines. The author addresses answers that I haven't been able to discuss with anyone. Are kids smarter because they've mastered the periodic element chart? Or because they can classify the phylum's of marsupials? Does teaching to the test and testing well, guarantee success or failure? Or should we be teaching our children to be problem solvers? I love how this author thinks. Two thumbs up! If you'd like to read more...just click HERE!

Now....what do you suppose I am doing with this below? Tune in tomorrow! smile, wink, nod!

My nose is buried in....

Just today, in the next town over... I sauntered into The big Goodwill Headquarters! And, found this historical fiction, "The Queen's Fool," for a whopping .75 cents. I have two good friends who've recently read, The Other Boyeln Sister. This is by the same author. The first chapter reeled me in... my eyes darting side to side, fast-like and hoping my 11 year old was not looking over my shoulder ... and then my in-laws came to visit and I had to set it aside. I'll pick it up again before bed tonight!

So, what's in your hands this week?