Some Thrifty Finds!

I know a lot of you are still head high in snow drifts but here in Florida we are a bit colder than usual but able to go out and about without restraint. So this past weekend my husband and I went to a few garage sales.
I have to say that I actually got some things that I "needed".

So for 5 bucks I got
This......... a really cute shirt with the tag still on it that read $29.50, a pair of shorts for my daughter, 3 white shelves, a book for the boys and a beautiful heart shaped glass dish.

And I only spent a grand total of $5.00!
I was so excited.
Sometimes it's worth weeding through the things you can't believe they think people would actually want, to get to the good stuff.

And then there are some people who forget that it's a GARAGE SALE. We went to one and there was a cute flower pot and she had $15.00 on it. If I want to pay $15.00 for a flower pot I'll go to Wal-Mart and get a brand new one that hasn't had flowers in it yet. Good luck selling that. You're gonna have that at the end of the day to pack up and drop off at GoodWill and then you've made NOTHING on it. Sell that bad boy for a buck and move on. There's a reason your getting rid of it. Remember that!

What's your latest garage sale score?
(Speaking to those who can actually go to them right now!)

HUGS!

Friday Funnies! Warning!

Hello my friends. How are you today?
You ready for some funnies? Do you have one to share?
Feel free to link your family friendly funny below and spread some fun today!


My funny has to do with this.

Can you guess what this came in?

I'm pretty sure they're leaving out some important information about these things when they feel the need to include such a warning as this.Are you serious? Death or serious injury? Home use only?
Well I guess my dreams of doing this on the beach for all to see, is shattered now.

Seriously am I going to be attacked by these things if I leave the house with them?

I gotta tell ya. I'm a tad bit afraid to use these bad boys now.
What, you ask?

These!


These are resistance bands, used for working out.
They look harmless enough, but now I'm not so sure!
Why else would they put the warning in there?
Should I put in a Google search for "Resistance Bands Deaths" and see what I can find?
You know what?
I'm probably better off not knowing!
See you at the gym!

Have a very Happy Friday my friends!

Some Friendly Shout Outs!

I love promoting things that my friends are doing (when I have the time) so that's what I'm doing today.

This first shout out is for my friend Erica from Amazing Adventures Await. She has been working hard on a kids book that had finally gotten published.
Here is a link to learn more about it and pre order a signed copy of her book.
You can also pre order an unsigned copy at B & N.


I've known Erica in the blogging world for quite awhile now and she has a heart of gold and a great love for her family. I'm sure this book will be a delight for you to add to your child's collection.


Okay this next thing I can't honestly believe I'm telling you about. Because I really really want this and by telling you all, (who will probably really really want this as well), I'm not helping my chances of winning. But because I like this fellow Floridian and blogger so much, I'm gonna do it.

My friend SophieMae from Shabach the Rock is giving a way a copy of this.

I don't know why, but I just want this! I don't need this. I'll probably gain 10lbs if I win this.
But me likey, me wanty!
So feel free to just completely ignore this half of my post and go along with your day.

Oh and since you're here don't forget about Friday Funnies tomorrow!
Get your funny ready and then come back and spread some cheer and grab a smile yourself!

LOVE YOU MY FRIENDS!

28 Day Org Challenge ~ The Closet

Our closet SCREAMED at me to be the thing I picked to be made over. It was tired of being the abused space in the house and I took pity on it and decided to finally organize the space.
It's supposed to be a walk in closet but it was getting pretty hard to actually "walk" in!


I'll show the before and after pictures and then get to answering the 5 questions that Laura asked after that.

The closet floor!
The little space by the toilet paper is where we "walked in"!

The after.
You can do a happy dance in there now!
The before of the shelf and front view.
After

This is right against the wall on the left. Right as you walk in. Any guesses to what's underneath here?
My shoe rack was underneath there.
Now it's actually being used for that purpose and that purpose only!
Please tell me you saw a difference!! LOL!

Now for the question and answer segment of this post!

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

The hardest part of this challenge was knowing that I was going to have to say goodbye to some things that I've been holding onto for WAY to long.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

The new habits that I've put into place it to NOT make our closet a dump all. We are trying to sell our house and it seems that in the mad rush of getting it ready to show we end up throwing everything in our closet. Not any more. Now I'm not embarrassed for them to open the closet door!

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

Actually I was able to re-purpose some things, like my old jeans. And then the other things went to either the garbage or the Salvation Army.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?

Well by using my shoe rack for my actual shoes, it created more space on the floor and I could actually see what I had. I used the blue suitcase to hold things inside while it's not in use. You can't see them but shoe boxes stack nicely and helped me house some things that "needed" to be in there but now are contained and not creating an avalanche!

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?

Hmmm... that's a tough one. I should win because I'm tall. I don't know! LOL! I love to organize. I think I purposely let a space go just so I can organize it and in doing so I usually come up with a better and more creative way to store my things. That and I'm the only person I know who wants office supplies for stocking stuffers at Christmas!

This was fun. Thanks for the encouragement along the way!

Where Are YOU From?

I'm stealing this idea from my very good friend Lisa for no other reason, other than I thought it was a fun idea.
I know a lot of you are stalkers and that's just fine and dandy. But I would LOVE to know where you all are from. All of you, not just the stalkers! Hee! Hee!
Wouldn't it be cool to have a comment from someone in each state? Maybe you'll even find someone close to you. And then there are some of you gals in other countries. How neato is that? Does anyone say neato any more?

So if you've never commented before would you do me a favor and do it today? I promise you'll never have to do it again.

Did I mention that I have the best commenters in the world?
That was a little kissing up. Did you pick up on that? You probably did because you all are pretty smart. That was more kissing up?

Oh and for those of you who haven't activated your emails so I can reply to your comments, I sure wish you would. Since you all always leave the funniest and wittiest comments I usually want to reply back to you but I can't because you don't have your email set up so I can. It saddens me because I usually have something fun and witty to say back to you and you miss it! LOL!
Okay I'm done. You may go now but not before leaving a comment. Hee! Hee!

Love you my friends!

Oh and in case you didn't already know, I'm in Florida!

I wear 10% of my clothing 90% of the time!

It's sad but true. I'm coming clean.

I Kim have a very VERY boring wardrobe! There I said it. Phew!
I feel better now.
What? You want to see? Are you sure? It's pretty pitiful. There may be some serious confessions going on in the midst. Are you sure you're ready for that? Yes? Well alrighty then.

Let's start with what I do wear and why.
These shirts are what I wear 90% of the time.
They are long enough, not to tight and not boxy. Most importantly they are comfortable. And as you can see, all solid in color!
For those of you who don't know my current occupation, it is Domestic Engineer. What that means is that for 80% of the time I'm at home with the children, homeschooling and keeping my home. And I LOVE it. Where else can you go to work in shorts and flip flops all day!

I don't have a great need for jazzy, hip, trendy clothing. I don't go to business meetings or even to blog retreats, YET. LOL! (But I would so buy a new outfit if I got to go one day).

This right here is the extent of my dressy casual wear prints. Minus the third shirt, that's all casual beachware!
Are you laughing? It's okay, I am!

Here are my "holiday/date" shirts! LOL!


This stack here? All long sleeve.
I live in Florida people and I have more long sleeve shirts in my closet then short sleeve. That's just wrong and I'm going to ditch at least 50% of these bad boys.

Now I do have the classic "black dress"! In fact I have two.Oh yeah. I'm so uptown on this one.

Then I have the shirts that I haven't worn in over a year or so for the main fact that once I washed them they shrank and my only hopes to getting back in them is to loose about 15 lbs.

So they will be going bye bye sometime in the near future as well. I can't have those taunting me every time I walk in the closet!

I bet you can't wait to hear about my pant collection or see my workout clothes, huh? LOL!
I'll save that for another day. I know you'll wait with great anticipation!

Can ANYONE relate to this? To even a small degree? Someone? Anyone?

LOVE YOU MY FRIENDS!

This is where you tell me I'm okay!

The older I get the more I realize my need to write things down. Especially daily chores and activities. What I really need to do is set a schedule for myself and stick to it. I admit that I've tried going down this road before and once I have a schedule in place I tend to irritate myself because I don't like being told what to do and when to do it. AND I'M THE ONE THAT WROTE IT!
I'm a wing it kind of gal but that ain't working for me. Things just aren't getting done like they should. Here is a very vague run down of a typical day with me. Proceed with caution!

I'll start picking up the house and putting something away in one room and then find that I forgot to make our bed, so I make it. I then realize I need to hide the chocolate that's on my dresser from myself, so I go around trying to find a good hiding spot. (Trying to hide something on yourself is tricky!) While searching for that "secret" spot I see a tumble weed blow across the floor which reminds me that I need to vacuum. So I stash the chocolate in the nearest location and grab the vacuum. I have half the house vacuumed when I come to our office. I turn the vacuum off for a second while I pick the blanket that I were working on, off the floor and set it on my desk. While at my desk I find the recipe that I had printed out but couldn't find earlier, so I bring that to the kitchen and decide I'm hungry. I eat.
In short the only thing that really got accomplished that day was making my bed. LOL!
Do you ever have those days? Do you see why I need to write me a schedule and stick to it? All the while trying not to get upset with myself for writing it in the first place!
Is there a name for this condition? LOL!

Do you have a system that works for you? I'd love to hear it!
I need all the help I can get!
HUGS!

My Finished Project!

Most of you have been reading hints about something that I was making.
It had something to do with an over abundance of fleece.

Remember my trash to treasure project?It was a great source of inspiration for this project.

Well that and the fact that I love my flip flops and it's been cold and I've needed a blanket for our bed!

So without further ado, my project!
This was so easy to do. The hardest part was deciding what color to use out of all the fleece I had!
I didn't cut the piece of fleece down to size or anything. I just used the big chunk that I had gotten from JoAnn's and started my project. I'm 5 foot 12 inches tall and I can't stand a blanket that doesn't cover me from head to toe. Half of it is hanging over the back of the couch! It's big!
The best part about this is that I didn't measure anything! I'm a rebel like that.

So do you want a quick run down of what I did? Yes? Oh good!
Then stick around!

If by some chance you have an over abundance of pretty blankets, then you may go.

Do some of you remember #3 of my "What I learned this week" post?
Well this is what I was talking about!You see I wanted a way to put a decorative crocheted edge around the blanket and had no idea how to go about doing that. So I put in a search on Google and realized that there was a special blade called a Skip Stitch blade for my Rotary cutter. You just run this along the edge of your fleece and it puts perfectly spaced holes in it so you can crochet your edging! Way cool!!
I am loving the possibilities of this tool.

Okay back to the making of my blanket.
I first cut out a flip flop pattern using card stock. Make it as big or as little as you want. Have fun with it.
Then I picked out from my stash of fabric all the different patterns and simply pinned the card stock to the fabric and cut them out. I cut the little thong part freehand and sewed it to the flip flop using a straight stitch.
I then used Heat Bond to secure the fabric to the fleece. Just cut the heat bond a little smaller then the flip flop itself. Use as directed on the package and align your flip flops where you want them.

After they were secured to the fleece I wanted to put a decorative edging around them, so I used the blanket stitch on my sewing machine to finish them off.
After you finished up all your flip flops you can start your edging. I chose a multi colored yarn that I already had and did a simple single crochet around the whole blanket and then finished it with a shell stitch.
See? Easy eh?

I used flip flops because it goes with our bedroom "theme". Walk around your house and get inspiration for whatever room your blanket will be used. You could cut out simple trucks for a boys room, flowers for a girls room, etc.
I hope this inspires you to try something new.

I'm linking up with:
Click on the pic to see other Do It Yourself projects!

HAVE A GREAT DAY MY FRIENDS!

Friday Funnies! The Anniversary Date!

Hello my friends. How is everyone today? Are you in need of a funny or have on to share?
Then you ended up at the right place.
I have the linky below for you to add your family friendly funny and while you're here click on a few for some more laughs.

Today I'm going to share a little of our Anniversary date with you. It was Wednesday, which was also Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. You remember Mondays post? You know the one about me giving up chocolate for Lent. Just keep that in your mind and read on.

I'll warn you that there's lots of pictures. But who doesn't like pictures?

Here's my hubbalicious getting ready to escort me on our date.
Ain't he a handsome thing?
We were going to our favorite place to eat on the planet, Carrabba's!

I'm reading the lovely card he got me.
He's so sweet!
Eating a most delicious salad.

We decided to branch out and get something we have never gotten there before. Because frankly we were stuck in a rut. Even though it was a most delicious rut! LOL!

I got the surf and turf.I always eat my veggies first because I don't like them cold.

He got the seafood cannoli's.

We finished our scrumptious dinner and were talking about what we wanted to do afterwards, while we waited for our check.
And then our waiter appears with this!
My husband saw him coming with it and busted out laughing. I was wondering what he was laughing at and then saw it coming at me like a Mack truck on a down hill slide.
We didn't order it. I was going to be good and skip dessert, but the guy brought it out to us for our anniversary!

What does one do, when one just Monday, said that she was going to give up chocolate starting THIS day, Wednesday, her anniversary day?
I'll give you one guess!





DUH! Yeah of course we ate it!

I admit, I felt a little guilty.
See?

But I got over it pretty quickly!

Are you laughing yet?
See, I'm not perfect! But I hope you already knew that! LOL!

We ended our lovely date at the river. We wanted to get a nice sunset shot.

Here we are getting ready to brave the cold.
The sun was setting quickly so we didn't have much time.
I ran and sat on the swing while he found a place to set up the camera.
He snapped this shot without me knowing it, but it was pretty cool.
You can't see it but I'm actually shivering and moving around frantically to stay warm.

It was so cold that we only managed to get one shot!
But it was a pretty cool shot!

You'll be happy to know that I haven't had chocolate for the past day now. LOL!
And how come all of a sudden my husband is eating more chocolate then normal?
I think he's testing my will power.
I'll make it as long as I make him hide all the Hershey's Kisses and don't go anywhere!
Happy Friday my friends!

Pssstt! Don't forget I'm being featured today on the Gooseberry Patch blog. I'd love it if you showed me and them a little love over there! HUGS!

Little Ol' Me?

As most of you know, I'm a huge Gooseberry Patch fan. I mean, I may have mentioned them here, here, and here. But who's keeping track! LOL! And earlier this week I got an email from them saying that they wanted to feature me on their blog for their new Feature Friday. Cool huh? I'm a fan of theirs on FB and I tell you, they are people just like you and me and it's so great to interact with the gals behind the company.
I got to answer some random questions that you may or may not know the answers to depending on how well you know me!
But if you have an extra minute tomorrow, I would love if you stopped by there (tomorrow) and gave me and them a little love.


In other news.
As you know yesterday was my wedding anniversary AND the beginning of Lent. So for some reason my Friday Funnies is going to involve our little anniversary date and pictures that you won't want to miss. I'm just sayin'!

Love you gals!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary.

14 wonderful years I've been married to my Hubbalicious.

So here's 14 reasons why I love him!

1. He loves the Lord
2. He loves his family more than anyone I know!
3. He's a great kisser! (Hey, I'd be lyin' if I didn't say so!)
4. He is a hard worker
5. He LOVES my cooking
6. He's HOT!
7. He can fix and build just about anything
8. He puts up with my goofiness and actually thinks I'm funny.
9. He's not afraid to cry.
10. He fell in love with me and rescued me from myself
11. He loves coffee as much as I do!
12. He has a funny side that only I get to see.
13. He's really really smart. (Hence why he asked me to marry him! Hee! Hee!)
and last but not least
14. He reads my blog and will actually see this!


Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!
I love you!

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy!

Okay, no matter what you do you can't make sausage gravy "look" good!
But here it is paired with my heart shaped biscuits that I made on Valentine's day!
My husband wanted to take an action shot and well, you don't want a close up of that! I'm just sayin'!

First let's start with your sausage. It makes this, so don't skimp!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain.

Now for the gravy!

Ingredients:

Your sausage

2 TBS. Real Butter

1/3 cup all purpose flour

4-5 cups milk

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large skillet, on medium high heat, put your prepared sausage and butter and stir until well blended.

Stir in flour until mixture is pasty.

Reduce heat to medium low and slowly add the milk, stirring constantly until mixture is thick and bubbly or to desired consistency. (This takes a little time so be patient!)

Season with salt and pepper to taste!

Pour over your favorite biscuits!

Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it.

Hugs!

It's just never ending!

Some weeks the lessons just keep on coming!

So this week I learned that:

1. if your 7 year old son makes up a board game you might find yourself dancing like a chicken, acting like Winnie the Pooh, making the letter H out of playdough and doing the karate chop dance! (Don't ask!)

2. eating buttered popcorn while watching the Winter Olympics can make you feel like a big lazy pig! LOL!

3. doing this search in Google (how do I make holes in the side of my fabric) will lead you to just the thing you need and you'll be excited because you had no idea it existed a few seconds ago and now it's on it's way to your home.

4. Lent isn't just for Catholics like I used to think.

5. after making the decision to take part in Lent and give up, *gulp* chocolate, I noticed that our anniversary is on the same day it starts! Oy! Stupid! LOL! Now that will be a test! (Mental note, try looking at a calendar before you start something!)

6. I made the best biscuits and sausage gravy on the planet for breakfast the other day. I'll be posting it on my cooking blog today!

7. the crinkle of a bag, that may or may not have chocolate in it, will bring your children out of the woodwork, but open up a bag of carrots and you have them allllllll to yourself! Why can't carrots taste like chocolate but still be good for you?

Well that's it for now!
Join Jo-Lynn from Musings of a Housewife if you to learned some stuff this week!

HUGS!

I Can't Believe I'm Saying This!

So I was doing some thinking today! ( I really hate that because something like this happens.)
I saw that Lent starts on Wednesday.
I did some reading about Lent and I am going to participate in it this year by sacrificing something that I love! ( Can you guess what it is?)
I'm going to give up, for 40 days......




............wait for it........










.............CHOCOLATE!

There I said it! Can you believe it? I can't believe it! Kathy, can you believe it? LOL! She's probably on the floor of her office right now!

I want to use this 40 days as a time of reflection of what Christ has done for me.

So I guess it means I better eat this box of See's Chocolates that I got in the mail yesterday from a giveaway I won at my blog friend Sherry's, huh?As you can see I've already started! It's SOOOOOOO good!

Are you participating in Lent? If so what are you giving up?

Anyone want to help me finish this box of chocolates? LOL!
Don't worry it will get eaten before Wednesday!

HUGS TO YOU MY FRIENDS!

Get Active!

Isn't it most of our goals to get fit come the new year? Maybe shed a few pounds?
If you answered yes to either one of those questions, keep reading.
If you answered no, you can click out at any time and I'll never know! LOL!

First of all we were blessed enough to have my parents buy us a Wii for Christmas a couple years ago.
This past Christmas they bought my daughter the EA Sports Active Workout. (She's homeschooled and not much into group sports.) So this gave her an opportunity to get her heart pumping.
But before she could ever try it, I gave it a shot. (I'm funny like that!)
Let me tell you it was WONDERFUL! I go to the gym about 4x a week and am pretty "fit". But this thing had me sweating and sore the next day.
It has different levels of intensity and tons of variety.
Now if you don't already have a Wii I don't think you should go in debt over getting one but if you do and you can afford the EA Sports Active Workout and actually want something that will work you out, then this is for you.

On the down side I will say that I had to double up on the band when doing biceps and stuff but other than that, it was a wonderful workout and I think you can get a better band at Wal-Mart!
You can go here to read more about it.

If you already have this then let me know how you like it?
Let's eat right, exercise and be healthy!
I need you to be around to read my blog when I'm 80 and repeating myself and forgetting what day Friday Funnies is on! LOL!!

HUGS!