No to Socialized Medicine

Listen to this. Reagan talking about the reasons why we don't want socialized medicine. It makes me sick to think how far we have come and how complacent the American people are. They run to the very thing that will take all their freedoms away, like sheep falling off a cliff after the wolf tells them to jump.

Cool Finds

Okay, I have to brag about all of the awesome finds I have made in the last little while. I am missing a couple, like the light that will go in the dining room once I get around to putting it up. And the bunk bed which is a LARGE project of sanding to get it like I want it. But here are the ones so far:


Picture in frame- either keep the picture or use the frame for one of my own pieces. Either way I like it, got it at a yard sale.
Regular Price: $109
Actual Price: $15

Bathroom shelf that I just needed to spend $4 to get the hooks for the back. I got it at DI and just hung it in my bathroom today.
Regular Price: $70
Actual Price: $15

We needed a nice couch for our living room and didn't want to spend too much on it. This was a great find because my relatives work at the store and got me a friends and family discount on top of the sale. I love to thrift shop, but not with couches- this one is brand new AND cheap.
Regular Price: $400-450
Actual Price: $311

I found both of these at DI. Not sure what I am going to do with both of them, but here they are for now. The plate was $3 and the box was $2.

Both of these vases were $1 each and purchased at DI and they are now sitting on my shelf in my bathroom.

Love this modern vase, DI, $2.

Love this one too. Don't know where I will put it in the end, but its on the mantel right now. DI, $2.

Love this cool basket and it was also a DI find for $1.

This is a yard sale find that is hanging in my bathroom. The greens really go well with my shower curtain. It had a twin picture that I didn't think I wanted and now wish I had just because I like the frame and picture so much. Oh and it was $5.

There are 2 of these side tables in my bedroom, but the red just doesn't go so they will be a dark brown with baskets underneath, but for now they are being used as well. They were a DI find for $20 for both.

I have had a lot of fun searching around and seriously it does feel like a treasure hunt. Why have my house look like one store or like it came straight out of a catalog? It is so much cooler and more fun and not to mention economical to thrift. Yay for thrifting!

Weekend With Family

We drove 2 1/2 hours to go spend a couple days with my sister and her husband and their two kids Savanna and Lilly. Savanna is a year older than Emily, but they play really well and Lilly and Lindsey are a month apart. They live out in a rural town in the middle of seriously NOWHERE. But its fun. We went hiking with them to a cave and some hieroglyphics and saw a dinosaur footprint. Emily HAD to see that.

Don't step back! Yeah, its quite a fall from the top to the bottom. Its really beautiful though.

It was a steep climb to get to the top of this and it was hard with shoes that had no traction and two 2 year olds, but we made it!

My sister Rachel and Emily sitting at the top in front of some hieroglyphics.


The 2 year old was so pleasant for this picture. All she wanted to do was get down and break her neck scaring her mommy half to death. At least we didn't find any scorpions.


Don't dig too deep girls, its the scorpions home. After we hiked to this area we got drenched hiking back. I thought it was a desert. It looked like it to me, but you would have never guessed by our dripping hair and clothes and very muddy shoes. It was a lot of fun and we were happy to hang out with family.

Little Readers

They love to read and I love books. I buy them new ones all the time- well by "new" I mean new to them. I get them at thrift stores all the time and they devour them. Lindsey says she is "reading them" and Emily actually is. She reads to Lindsey all the time. They cuddle in their room or mine with a million stories all over the house. That is the only problem. I hate cleaning up so many books at night. They get them all out and their book shelf is so packed that they can't put them back very well without ruining half of them.

If you look closely you can see a pink thrift store sticker on Emily's book. Haha. I usually take them off and wash them before they get to them, but this time Emily was too quick for me.

Robert's "Rock" Band

At Robert's job last year he was part of a band and he was the keyboard player. This year they had rock band the game, but still a band. Our friend Nate who works with him did a great Ozzy Osborne impersonation. He put on the wig and clothes and made his mouth look like his and it was really good. Robert had me spray his hair white with blue tips and he grew a beard for the occasion. Doesn't he look dashing? Most people don't even recognize him when they see him with the glasses. They seem surprised that he can truly pull off the "look". I think he is super sexy!

Gone with the Wind

I have loved this movie since I was a teenager and first saw it. I loved the cinematography, the dresses, the history and the love story. Its no question then that when I read the book that I would love that too. But just like with almost every book I love, they are always better than the movies that follow. Some books I read I end up loving the book and the movie as separate phenomenons, but both I hold on high levels. I believe this book is like that. I will always love the movie, I love it all the more because I read the book. However, the book is mile stones ahead of the movie because of the depth of character understanding and the details that they cannot possibly convey in a movie, no matter how long it is. They actually did a fantastic job with what they did do, but its always not enough. Its that way with The Lord of the Rings as well.

For those of you who don't know the movie or the book I will spare the details and just give some of what I thought. I was amazed at the very vivid writing of Margaret Mitchell. How she could possibly be so fluid in her explanations of everything from feelings to scenery to characters without going overboard is astounding. I have read a lot of good authors and many have this talent, but they seem to possess a genius about their writing that gives into monotony at times- Victor Hugo for example. But she makes it seem so effortless and you feel right along with the characters. You also love them and hate them because they are both good and both bad. They are selfish and selfless, childish and heroic. The emotions that exist in the book surpass those of the movie. The infamous sad ending is all the more agonizing with clearer understanding of the characters. When you see their pride and selfishness revealed, the walls go down and the sad ending that I always hated, I know cannot end any other way once you read and understand the depths of each character. It is a book that sticks with you and its also why it is a classic and personally Wuthering Heights doesn't come close to the sad feelings of this book.

In short, it is an amazing novel and is quickly climbing the charts as a favorite of mine.

Emily and Lindsey Hide N' Seek

Aren't they silly? They love that there are so many more places to go in their house. Yesterday though they were burning off their energy by running in circles in the living room. I couldn't take it anymore so we went to find a park to play in. Funny girls!

Yard Pictures

The house we bought was vacant for a year while it was being fixed up before the investor was foreclosed on so the weeds have taken over the lawn. We talked to a neighbor who was very nice and gave us 2 boxes of flood lights and a large sprinkler. He is so happy to see us trying to get the yard back. He said it used to be so well tamed and beautiful and we want it that way again. Robert's mom brought her tools and lawn mower over so we could get started.

Robert's mom Arlene helped us cut down some of the enormous bush. As beautiful as this bush is and so private, it is going to be a hard one to tame.




Robert took these other pictures on another day when the storm came.

Bearded Boy

Robert has been sporting a beard for awhile now. He has another "Rock Band" band at work and the beard is for looks and not getting a hair cut. Here he is posing. He is pretty cute with it, but boy does it feel like needles sometimes. He had a beard about 3 years ago and he had some red hair in it, this time I don't see any. Weird. I didn't know beard hair can change colors.