New Job

I am so excited. Most of you know that I am a former Middle School Science teacher that decided to take a few years off, to be a stay at home mom. Well, things are sort of going to change. Just a little.

I was offered a position at Dream Nurse Travel as an assistant.

I will go back so, you can understand. I will try and keep this short but, I am a gabber so, just deal. Anyway, Kansas, the daughter of our builder, Phil, is a co-owner of the company Dream Nurse Travel. The company represents traveling nurses, placing them in positions of need.

Phil's other daughter, Sam, currently is working part time for the company. Awhile ago, there was talk about Sam and I splitting her job once she started her student teaching this fall. Sam checks the nurse's references and backgrounds.

Well, as it turns out, Kansas and her team decided that they need a whole other person. The company is growing fast! This person will assist Sam and Kansas. And, they hired me.

Besides helping Sam, I will assist Kansas in recruiting nurses and placing them into hospitals, clinics, etc, making a perfect fit.

At first, I will have office hours with Kansas at her home but, after I get the swing of things, I will be working from home.

I am so excited for this new adventure. I start this Friday.

Hey, if there are any nurses out there reading this, that are in the central NY area and you would be interested in traveling let me know.

Guess, I just started working.

Nature Walk

Yesterday, Johnsie and I went on a nature walk, in our yard.




Looking at our loot.


Our leaf people and dog. We added milkweed seeds for fur.

Giving Credit

Giving credit when credit is due is really important out here in blog world. One, it is just proper etiquette. But two, when you give credit to the person(s) that inspire you it reiterates to that person that they are actually making a difference in the world and that all of their hard work is justified.


Awhile ago I posted this activity that Johnsie and I did. We were inspired by Valerie from over at Family Frugal Fun Blog. After I posted, I made sure to go back over to Valerie's site and let her know that Johnsie and I absolutely loved the activity and that I also gave her a shout out here, on my blog.

This morning as I was reading through my favorite blogs I came across this picture over at Valerie's Family Frugal Fun Blog along with a post about how happy it makes her to know that families are coming together and having fun by using her ideas.

So, now not only is Valerie happy, but I am happy knowing that I helped make Valerie happy. Life is good!

Bulb Time

Yesterday, my day was spent planting these. I am a sucker for tulips.

But first, I had to prepare this. The right side of this picture shows the ground I have already started working and the left hasn't been touched.

Oh my gosh. It is like trying to dig up concrete. There are so many rocks in this soil that every time I attempt to shove the shovel in, I get in about a half and inch a stop. It is really super annoying and it is also really hard work.

I miss my Red River Valley dirt. So, all my peeps back in ND and MN go out and say thank you to your dirt. Seriously, go outside and thank it. It is the best dirt in the world, literally. Send me some, please!

This area has been worked. I added some top soil and peat moss to it. I was even tempted to raid Johnsie's bean bag so, I could add some styrofoam to it. I just know it is going to be concrete again come spring.

Here are some of the rocks we have uncovered in the yard. A few of them are huge.

We had a visitor show up too. Now, he is safely inside being poked at by Johnsie.

Besides planting our bulbs, Johnsie just had to have this little beauty the other day when we were at Walmart.

I think I am going to have go and buy more bulbs today. We only planted on the one side of our porch. Plus we need to add some hyacinths into the mix.

Puppy Love

Our dogs are really loved. Johnsie loves them a little too much sometimes.



What dog wouldn't love Dog Soup.




You should have seen the Halloween drink he made for me yesterday. I was ice tea, water, a flavored water packet, candy corn and to top it off some potato peelings. It was so nummy! He watched to make sure I took a sip.

Fall Wreath

Ok, this time my wreath is a smashing success. The last one I made was a little lacking. I got this idea from Roeshel at The DIY Show Off. If you haven't seen her site yet you are definitely missing out on something awesome. Her tutorials are great.

I know I have seen this type of wreath before and I knew I didn't want to make the traditional leaf and/or flower wreath. And actually from a distance, mine actually looks like leaves.
I just cut squares that were about 2x2 inches, no I didn't actually measure, just free cut everything. Anyway, I used a wreath from the Dollar Tree. I used the tip of a pencil and wrapped the fabric around it. Put some hot glue on the end and then shoved the fabric into the wreath. Easy Peesy.

I started first with some leaf garland wrapped around the wreath and was then going to add the fabric but, I quickly decided that was not the direction I wanted to go. Off came the garland.

I used mostly used scraps I had around but, I did pick up a few fat quarters from Walmart and of course, the clearance fabric bin. I always look there.


The ribbon is from where else, The Dollar Tree.

We finally have had a nice sunny day here, but it makes my fabric look more peach than orange. Sorry.

Premature? Maybe

A few days ago Johnsie and I got into our Halloween decor stash.
Premature? Maybe.


The rest of the family thought so anyway. The big skull was purchased last year at Target on clearance. The little glitter skull is from the Dollar tree and the spooky house was a clearance item from last year too. It came assembled. We just had to decorate it. Chickie and Ryan helped. Yeah, it is old candy but, who cares.

The candelabra is from the thrift store. The candles, crow, and creepy material are from the Dollar Tree. And we found a ton of old books at a garage sale this past weekend. I need to melt the candles down a little to get them a little more spooky.

Grammy gave us this cutie last year.

These skulls are from the Dollar Tree, of course and the jar is a thrift store find.

I bought this plate last year on clearance at Gordman's. One of my favorite shopping days of the year is the day after Halloween. Awesome day to load up on dress up clothes too. I have actually bought clearanced costumes and saved them for Christmas gifts.

Johnsie thought we needed a bat.

Specifically, a two-headed bat. He is so proud of this guy. This was great scissor practice for him. He cut the 2 big circles.

This is just the beginning of decorations. I figure, I need to wait until at least October 1st for the rest.

Decorative Storage

Chickie and I went garage saling yesterday. Have I mentioned yet how much I LOVE having her home again! Anyway, we hit some awesome sales and I picked up this guy for 50 cents.

I was looking for some kind of storage because these are a permanent fixture in my living room. Legos are one of Johnsie's favorite toys and mine too. Open ended, creative toys are the best. But, they aren't the cutest to have sitting out.

So, now the legos have a new home. I added in some puzzles and tanagrams. I like having some quick and easy toys handy for us.

I tucked him under our coffee table. This is so much better.

1st Day

Yesterday, was the first day of school here. Manny is now in the Junior High and starts school an hour earlier. The bus was here at 7:15 to pick him up. School starts at 7:30.


Johnsie had his first day of preschool. We were worried since he is used to staying with me all day and when we lived in MN and went to ECFE (parent and me classes) he never wanted to stay with his teachers when we would separate for the parent time.He did super though. No need for Mom and Dad to worry.

He's a big guy now.

We have been prepping him all summer for this. Explaining that Mommy and Daddy won't stay there with him.


His teacher said he had an awesome, no tears, day, well 3 hrs. His school is only 3 days a week for 3 hrs each day.

Way to go Johnsie!

Me

One of my favorite blogs, Madigan Made tagged me with 8 questions. You need to check her out. Her positive outlook on life is truly inspiring and of course her decor and tutorials are amazing.

1. If you could be a tool, either from the kitchen, craft room or toolbox, what would you be? I guess I would be a stapler. Keeping things organized and together in our home.

2. What's in your morning mug? weak coffee. I love coffee but, I am a total wimp with it.

3. If you could take a lesson to learn something new what would it be? The violin. I have always wanted lessons. Well, not always, when I was like 11 my Grandmother took me to a school where I could get lessons and offered to pay for them but, I wouldn't do it b/c it was too nerdy. I am SO kicking myself now!

4. What is your favorite season? Fall, Fall, Fall!

5. If you could vacation anywhere for a week, where would you go? Italy. I have relatives over there somewhere.

6. What room in your house do you most enjoy to spend time? Well, I spend most of my time in the kitchen, but I would much rather be spending it in my bedroom, snuggling with a book, or the kids or the hubby.

7. What makes you smile? Of course I need to say my family, friends, nature, chocolate but besides that I love the thrill of the thrift hunt. I love finding that perfect item, CHEAP. Smile!

8. Free question. Tell us something random about yourself. I love to organize things. But, I can be bad at keeping them organized. That is my new goal in this new house.

My Sweetheart

No, not Ryan, but Chickie. The other day she came home from school with these. She stopped at a fruit stand, and bought a bunch of fruit for us and these gorgeous glads.

We are so lucky to have such a sweetheart for a daughter.

Thrifty Changes

I was thinking about buying one of those ceramic hands that you put your rings on to hold my earrings, odd I know, but I don't ever take my rings off and I have a few pairs of hoops that I always wear. Anyway, I found this little treasure and now it sits on my vanity and it holds not just my earrings. The little glass container was also a thrift find. I am a sucker for little glass jars.

I was so happy to find this guy.

And now it hangs in my bathroom.

Nice tall vase wrapped in jute.

Spray painted white.

And this voluptuous lady. Reminiscent of the 80's mod phase. I swear everything was mauve. Both Ryan's and my parents had this color carpet in their houses and not in a little girl's room.

And it was only 80 cents.

I spray painted her black. Add some twigs that Johnsie and I cut from trees in our yard and then I added some little white paper flowers. I need to make more of the flowers when I get a chance. The mirror was also a thrift find. She was gold before I painted her.

Now, I just need to figure out how to cover up that dang heart on my bench. I have a matching stand with hearts all over it. Ugh. Thinking I will cover it with some batting and fabric.

These are my next project.

Paper Wreath

I saw a super cute wreath idea over at Living With Lindsey and I had to try my hand at it.

I can't tell yet if I think mine is a project fail or not. Chickie and Gram liked it but Ryan said, "you're not hanging that thing in my house."

For some reason, I got stuck in the idea of using a book that meant something to me, and since I started this project at about 10:00pm I had to use something from around the house. Well, that caused an issue since I am a book addict and find it really hard to get rid of books.

However, our neighbors had just had a garage sale that Manny participated in and a few of the things that didn't sell were some of his old books. Problem with most of those though were that the fonts and margins were really big so, there wasn't a lot of black type on the page. Lucky for me he had a little paperback dictionary tucked away in there and I thought, perfect! The only issue was that the dictionary didn't contain all that many pages.

Anyway, I spray painted the edges purple and also fanned the book out so some of the interior pages were painted.

Next, since I didn't want mine very large I just cut out the center of a paper plate and then continued in the way Lindsey describes. First, I glued paper rolls to the back of the plate and then I flipped the plate over and started filling in the front.

And this is the way she sits. I have tried several ideas for covering the interior edges and nothing has worked yet.

Chickie said that she thinks it is really cute and that she would like to hang it in her room. So, nannynanner, Ryan. My tongue was just sticking out!

Next time, I will use a larger book. Guess that means I need to take a trip to the thrift store!