Book Sale Finds

A few Fridays ago I had the opportunity to go to my first-ever library book sale. It was interesting and amazing and educational and fun and humorous and...

I could go on and on! Thank you to Inspired for inviting me! I had a blast!

I got a huge kick out of the serious book collectors/ re-sellers. I also learned that I probably will never fit into that category! Don't get me wrong, I love to shop- but they took shopping to a whole new level! They were aggressive! (Think 4 a.m. shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving.) And they were easy to spot. You just had to look for the people with scanners attached to the tops of their cell phones. They were literally scanning the bar codes of the books into their phones to help decided whether or not it was a book they wanted to buy.

I had a wonderful night, and came home with the big stack of books above. I was lucky enough to find nearly all of the books I needed for the upcoming school year, and many extra goodies! It helped that I had my own personal literature guru guiding me through the book shelves.

Do you want to know how much all of those books cost me? A small fortune? A pretty penny?

Nope! My grand total was a mere $31.00!

I can't wait for the next sale in October!

Homemaking Happenings

I am now officially addicted to canning! It's strangely therapeutic! Aside from the fact that my feet feel puffy after about ten hours in the kitchen, I really, really love it. It's calming. It's rewarding. It's nice to know exactly what I'm putting in each recipe- and knowing exactly what I'll be feeding my family!

As of today, I've canned:
8 quarts of stewed tomatoes
4 pints of Peach Jam
4 half-pints of Peach Jam
5 half-pints of Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam
5 half-pints of Peach-Plum Salsa
4 pints of ATOMIC Peach BBQ Sauce
5 half-pints of ATOMIC Peach BBQ Sauce

I've got an order in for a flat of strawberries that will be in later this week! I can't wait! The joys have been great helps in the kitchen! I also found a super yummy looking recipe for Basil-Garlic Tomato Sauce. We may head to the Farmer's Market later this week to track down some more tomatoes.

**I'll update this post with photos of the bounty once my camera battery has time to charge!

Bittersweet

Two of the most important, influential, and special people in my life were born on July 25th. Growing up, I always thought that was really neat! It was like all the stars in the cosmos must have aligned on July 25th for such wonderful people to have been born on that day! Today though, I'm a little sad! My sweet Nana Mae would have been 80 today, and we would have celebrated! I miss her terribly! BUT, thankfully, there is still a wonderful, terrific, fantastic reason to celebrate today! My Daddy turns 58 today! And well, I've pretty much been a Daddy's Girl since birth, so it makes me smile to think about him today! Daddy is who I got my love of photography from! One day when I'm home again, I'd love to track down his old retro 70's camera strap, and 'borrow' it--- forever.
Poor Daddy has had two stubborn, strong-willed, hot-headed, competitive daughters to raise. (He also has a son, but my brother was the EASY child to raise.)
My sister likes to pretend she's a Daddy's Girl... but she's NOT!
My sister likes to pretend that she's his favorite... but she's NOT!

I love you Daddy!
I hope you have a wonderful birthday!
You're the best!

Not forgetting the other special person who was born on July 25th, I made this:

It's the first flower arrangement I've ever made. Nana's favorite color was yellow. I find myself drawn to yellow things these days. Superman is going to help me take this to Nana's grave today. I bought a basket that he could use tent spikes to anchor it into the ground.
This last photo was of four generations: Mom, W, me, C, Ashleigh, and Nana Mae.

The Never-Ending Project

I'm now as finished with the bathroom re-do as I'm gonna be for awhile! We're still planning to put in a new sink, cabinet, counter top, and floors, but someone other than me will be doing those projects! Here's the before and after shots of the exact spot where I started this month-long project...Getting this border down almost killed me! It literally took me a day and a half to get it down! The walls weren't prepped before the original wallpaper was hung 20 years ago. This wallpaper was hung 8 years ago. I picked the border out when my oldest joy was 2. He wore Gap overall shorts all the time, and loved to turn his baseball caps around backwards. He also has grown up fishing with my Daddy. It just seemed to fit!

I cried while taking it down! Not because I was sentimental, but because I didn't think I would ever finish! I also removed all of the 'popcorn' ceiling in the bathroom. Can you believe it was easier and quicker to scrape, patch, and sand the ceiling than to take down the border?
I used a drill and drywall hangers to do this...I'm unnaturally obsessed with levels. Seriously!Hopefully now the joys will have an easier time replacing the toilet paper when it runs out!And this cutesy little touch lasted all of three minutes. Here's how my 'Happy Wall' started...I painted the towel rack, but Superman hung it. And yes, I made sure it was level!Now the joys each have their own color of towels. It has made it much easier to know who left their towel on the floor.This cute-iful shower curtain was decided upon by Superman and the joys! I actually bought three different curtains, because I couldn't make up my mind. I let them vote for their favorite...BIG MISTAKE! They all three voted for this one, and I couldn't convince any of them to vote with me on the one I liked the best once I saw it against the paint. Man, it doesn't feel good to be out-voted in the decorating democracy!The oldest joy was glad to help demonstrate why they all three voted against me-...it's reversible! Superman said that made it a "better deal- it's like getting two shower curtains for the price of one!" But I got to pick out the new shower curtain hooks! And this time I was really smart, I just didn't ask my three fellas for their opinions!
I love, love, love how they remind me of old timey glass door knobs! (And I really don't care if they 'match' the rest of the bathroom.) They make me smile! If I ever get around to painting the 4-F-O-U-R doors that are in this bathroom, I'd also like to change out the door knobs with glass knobs. (Then the hooks will technically match, right?!?!)

I'm Back!!!

Thanks to David, all of my Internet issues are fixed! It seems that my router wasn't hit by lightening after all. It was the whole Zone/Microsoft thing-a-ma-jig. But then when I re-set my routers trying to figure out the problem, I caused more of a mess! Thank heavens for an old friend who just so happens to be some sort of a computer genius! I had such plans to thank him on here and include some photos of him with his blushing bride, but it wasn't to be! (And if you're reading this David, I know you told me how to do it- I just can't seem to remember what you told me! Remind me, and I'll add them to this post!)

Anyhoo- here's a little glimpse of what I've been working on lately...

I'm not quite finished yet, so there are more photos to come later!

M.I.A.

Hey y'all! Just checking in to let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! I think my router was zapped in a lightening storm, so I'm forced to get my Internet fix at the library!

In other techno-disaster news, my cell phone face has decided to go on strike! I can no longer see who's calling, or access my address book or photos! So if you're reading this and wondering why you haven't heard from me lately, I have a very simple excuse. I don't memorize phone numbers anymore, so I can't call you. I just rely on my handy-dandy electronic address book. You know, the one that I can't access until I go buy a new phone! Don't you just love technology!

I'm managing to get much more accomplished without my beloved Internet access, but don't tell that to Superman! It'll be our little secret!

I'll have wonderful photos and projects to share with you when things return to normal.
Until then...