Garage Give-Away Part 2

After we made our piles of stuff, we asked the lady how much she wanted for it. She told us, "Just take it. It's all junk to me, and if you can use it, go for it!". We, of course, tried to convince her to take something, but she refused, saying, "Make me a planter with flowers in it from something. That's how you can pay me..." Ummm, OK!

The next day, after it had finally stopped raining, we unloaded the truck. And here is what we ended up with...

Now this may look like junk to some of you (and truth be told, it kind of is....), but once this stuff is all cleaned up, and flowers growing out of it, it'll look fairly impressive.  Or unique.  Yes, let's go with that!  Just in case you were wondering, this isn't all for me....we shared.  So only half of this "junk" is mine....

Garage Give-Away

Last weekend, even though the weather was terrible, we decided to go garage sale-ing. We had one sale that we knew about from the paper, and so, we headed out. It was a good 25 minutes from home, and we were prepared. Snacks for the kids, perhaps a movie...who knew what we would find!

When we got there, we learned that this lady who was having the garage sale was widowed about 2 yrs. ago, and their house was actually an old church. Her and her late husband had lived there for 24 yrs., and were working on fixing it up. Well, let me tell you....they had a LOT of work to do... Anyhow, the property is just too much for her to take care of now, so she had sold it. I found a very fun fruit box and 2 other little boxes with really old and rusty handles in the basement, which I gave her $5 for.

Just before we drove away, I saw a bunch of piles of stuff (aka "junk") in the back bushes. I convinced my friend, Suzanne, to go and ask if we would be able to take a look through there to see if there was anything else that we could buy. This lady told us how her husband, for 24 yrs., would bring home stuff, and make piles of it. She told him "No more!", but still, he continued to bring it home. Well, let me tell you friends, we hit the mother-lode!! We probably spent about 1 1/2 hrs. going through some of the piles. And here is what we found....

This was just the 'metal pile'....there were wood piles and other piles as well!

There was an old hay wagon in the middle of the bushes also.  Unfortunately, the new owners wanted this, so we couldn't claim it.  It would've make a great play structure for the girls!  Apparently, this wagon was brought from the family farm in Mundare.  Cool, eh?

 This gentleman also made his own wine out in the bushes, so there were a lot of wine jugs and other things which we couldn't figure out what they were.  A few more windows to add to my collection...

After about an hour and a half, as our piles started getting bigger and bigger, I figured I'd better call Art to come and pick up all these goodies in the truck.  Thankfully, he was headed home from the city, so he was able to pop in and load up.  Abut that time, though, we had a HUGE thunderstorm and terrential downpour, so Suzanne and I were looking like drowned rats by the time we got into the van to go home!  I'll post some pictures tomorrow of all our finds....

New Lamps

The other day I was in HomeSense just browsing the aisles.  In the lamp aisle were these two, completely perfect lamps for our master bedroom.  I wasn't looking to buy new lamps, but I just couldn't put these ladies back.  So, I decided they must come home with me. 

Hannah's comment when she saw the lamps was, "Do those really work?  They look too old to be able to turn on."  Yup, they fit in perfectly!

Once I got them home, they didn't work with the night stands that we had, so I had to rearrange the bedroom....all to suit a couple of lamps! Anyhow, I am still looking for a new dresser for Art, but for now, this will do.

This picture makes the paint color look fairly terrible...which it is (just not quite this bad!).  I have been itching to paint our room, but that, of course, is a fall/winter project.  All in due time, I suppose.  The basement in our next priority, so it might be a little while before our room sees the face lift that I would like!

Are We Having Fun Yet?!

Last week we celebrated our friend Natalie's birthday. After dinner, we headed out for some shopping, and Art took the kids on a quad/wagon ride. There were a few extra little people (as you can see, Eli was NOT so happy to see Natalie and I as we were leaving).  Hannah sat with Naomi, who loved the ride!  Take a look at the sky behind....we had quite the rainstorm about 10 mintues after that picture was taken!

The Garden

Thankfully, we got our garden in before all this crazy rain and cold weather.  Here are the happy "farmers", ready to get to work... We planted the usual....pumpkins, snow peas, sweet peas, beans, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and lots and lots of flowers!  Then, after I had planted my garden, I was at a neighbors house, and she gave me 2 asparagus roots.  She had them in her garden, and transplanted some, and gave me the rest.  I am hopefully that I won't kill the plants, and maybe later this year, we'll have asparagus!

 Here it is!  We found some very cool bamboo fencing/lattice for our snow peas and sweet peas.  I think it looks quite fancy and beautiful.  Now, the weeding begins...

Wellington

Last week, when the weather was still nice, the little girls and I headed over to Wellington for some inspiration. Wellington is a nursery in the city that is amazing!! There are about 5 building where they have flowers, gardening stuff, and home decor. The owner imports containers of antiques from France to sell and decorate this place. There are arbors and fountains and benches everywhere you look...and the smell is amazing. The lilacs were just starting to bloom when we were there. Here are a couple pictures to give you an idea of what it's like...

Needless to say....I was inspired!

Another Winner

So I tried another recipe from my most amazing cupcake recipe book ever.....(thanks, Martha!!). I popped over to my neighbors the other day, and she sent me home with an armful of rhubarb. Here are the results! Rhubarb cupcakes topped with whipped cream and vanilla infused rhubarb syrup. Yummy!  I had enough to freeze, so I will be able to make these fantastic treats in the middle of winter....hip, hip, hooray!

And the final product....

 

Coveting

 Last week, as a delayed birthday/pre-birthday special day (my birthday was the 7th, her's was the 19th), one of my favorite girlfriends and I spent the day shopping. Let me tell you, it was a good time. A good and expensive time. I bought a couple of pairs of shoes, some jeans, a few shirts....all good stuff, but no amazing stuff. Then, yesterday, I had to go and return one of the three pairs of shoes at the mall,.  Low and behold, my new favorite store, Anthropologie, was having it's Big Summer Sale.  Since we had gotten there in the morning, the sale rack was full. FULL, I tell you! Well, it just so happened that I had a few pennies left, and happened on a couple of tres cute tops. SO FUN!!

Then, later on that evening, we had the same friend and her family over for dinner, and I was showing my girlfriend my new digs, and we decided to go back to Anthropologie....good thing we're close to the city! While we were there, since this time I didn't have any of my little ladies who had to go to the bathroom (long story!), I got to try on many, many, many beautiful clothes. And, I may have fell in love....with a dress (or two!!). And now, I must confess, I do covet it a little bit. So, I will wait, and go back every Tuesday morning (that's when they do their markdowns), until my sweet dress(es) and on sale. And then, I will have them in my possession....

Here's the first one, which of course, the picture doesn't do it justice.  However, it's fantastic!!

And the second.....I have no words!!

 Please, OH PLEASE let them have my size when they (one day) go on sale!

Grain Sacks

I have always loved the look of grain sacks, but have never found them in our neck of the woods. Last summer, while I was out garage sale-ing, I ended up at a farm sale, where the children of a (very) elderly lady were selling everything off the farm. This woman had lived there for 70 years, and she had to be moved to a home. In talking with her children, one of her son-in-laws walked me around the property and opened up all the out buildings for me to take a look at. In one of them, they had stacks of grain sacks, all bundled together. I didn't want to seem too eager, but asked if they were for sale. He said, "Sure", and sold me 2 stacks of sacks for $5. Each stack had probably 5-6 grain sacks in them, and some of them had been mended even. I took them home, washed them, and promptly made a bunch of pillows with them. Here is

the one that has been mended, which you can see in the top, left corner.

 

Today, I was thinking about making some more pillows from grain sacks, so I took a little look on eBay to see if I could find any. Let me tell you....I found some alright, but they were all being sold for anywhere from $40-$90....for ONE sack....with NO pillow even! Crazy!! Needless to say, I didn't bid on any! I'll just have to keep my eyes open for some more this summer as I garage sale. I especially love this pillow below, which has what the bags were used for, and where it was made.

If any of you have a line on where I can find more of these lovely ladies (for a reasonable price), please let me know!!  My couches will thank you!

New Birdhouses

I figured it was time to take down the Easter eggs on my "house tree", so I found these fun little birdhouses to put on there instead. I do believe that I love them!

 

I probably have about 36 hanging on the tree, in different shapes and sizes.  I've decided that the tree must become a permanent (or at least semi-permanent) fixture in my home, and will decorate it accordingly. 

Birthday Weekend

Hi All! So it's been quite a crazy week here, and I am hoping that things will be slowing down a bit. All good things, just busy. It was my birthday on Friday, so the celebrations started Thursday...I went for lunch with a few friends, and then headed to the mall for a bit. Friday was a busy day at home - I spend the majority of the day preparing for Molly's birthday party, which was on Saturday. Friday night, we headed out for a great dinner with some friends, followed by yummy cheesecake here for dessert.

On Saturday, we had Molly's birthday party. We had invited 3 families over (for a total of 14 kids!) for a wiener roast. I prayed and prayed and prayed that it wouldn't rain. And, thankfully, it didn't! However, it was a little on the cold side. Here is the birthday girl, with her ladybug cake. She turned 5 this year....

Since we were having so many people over, I figured that just a cake wouldn't be enough, so I also made ladybug cupcakes....

Good thing I did, because they went quickly! We had a great night, although it was a tad bit on the cold side, so the fire just kept getting bigger and bigger! 

Molly was thrilled to have some of her favorite friends over to play....

And one of her friends Daddy even brought over his own toy - a very, very cool remote control car.  The kids had a great time chasing that thing everywhere, and of course, it brought out the "kid" in all the men too.  Art quickly rigged up a ramp, and when that grew old, he proceeded to lay beside the ramp to have the car jump over him.  The kids thought it was "AWESOME!"  You can see the car just past Art's head...

Anyhow, after that exciting night was over, and everyone was thoroughly exhausted, Sunday came along, which was Molly's real birthday, as well as Mother's Day.  I headed out to church alone (3 of the 6 of the Goerzen household were still in bed when I left at 9:50 am!), brought some lunch home, and we had a mellow afternoon.  Later in the afternoon, the very special Auntie Frieda came over to help us celebrate Molly, as well, we had some friends from Fort St. John stop by on their way through town.  We were thrilled that they ended up spending the night, so we had more of a chance to hang out with them. 

Monday, my birthday festivities continued with going out shopping with a friend in the evening, and then for dessert, and on Tuesday, after I was finished volunteering at school in the morning, I headed out for some more retail therapy with another friend.  We shopped 'till we dropped, had some dinner, and then shopped some more!  It has been a very full but fun week of celebration at the Goerzen house!

Going once, going twice....SOLD!

This past Saturday, Art was working on finishing up a job about an hour away, out in the country.  He asked us to come for a drive to say hello to him.  So, we all piled in the van, picked up Slurpee's, and went to break up his day a little bit.  On the way home, I saw a sign for a farm auction not 2 miles off the highway.  We, of course, HAD to stop in to take a little gander to see what was being sold.  The Girls, of course, weren't really dressed for the weather (flip flops, no jackets....you know, the usual), but we walked around for a little while anyway.  After we looked, I moved the van so it was where I could see them, and sat in on the auction for a bit.

Let me start this by saying that I am always on the lookout for cool new (read: old) things for around the house, and especially to put my flowers in.  While I was standing listening to the old farmers talk, I saw this lovely little chicken feeder coming up.  I thought in my head, "Now THAT would be great for flowers, or even as a little conversation piece.  I would pay $20 for it."  The auctioneer started, and no one was bidding, so they threw in 4 HUGE coils of chicken wire, which I definitely DID NOT want.  I started bidding, and so did another man.  I went up to him and asked if he wanted the chicken wire - because if he did, then let's not big against each other.  He, however, only wanted the feeder.  So, we continued to bid against each other.  Eventually, he succumbed, and I won!  Hip, hip, hooray!  He did come up to me after and offer to take the chicken wire in his truck to his brothers place, who was a farmer, for which I was very thankful....it would've never fit in my van!  Here is my new prized masterpiece!

I think that it will look fantastic filled to the brim with pansies, perhaps?  Or maybe even garland with lights on it at Christmas?  Right now it's sitting outside (filled with snow, I might add), but I will decide what to do with it soon.  And the best part about this?  It only cost me $4!! 

I really wanted to stay for the antiques, but by that time, we'd already been there for 2 hrs., and The Girls were ready to get going, so I very, very sadly decided to head out.  However, I did get the auctioneers catalogue of upcoming sales, so hopefully I'll make some more this summer.  Oh, how I love a good farm auction!

Sunflowers!

Can I just tell you....we are having a crazy blizzard here this morning.  I had to drive to the other side of the city today...it was NUTS!!  Happy freakin' Spring!!  

Anyhow, on a happier note, Art brought me these flowers home on Friday.  I asked him why, and his response.... "Because it's NOT your birthday!"

Sunflowers....in April!!  What a great man I have.  Thanks, honey!

Hannah's Day Timer

I found this pad of paper last night in my room, and I thought to myself, "This is my daughter!"  She has her entire week planned out....

It's a little hard to read, so I will type it out...

Sunday:        Church                10am - 1pm
Monday:       Ballet                    4pm - 5pm
Tuesday:       School              8:45am - 3:00pm
Wednesday:  Awana              6:30pm - 8:00pm
Thursday:      School              8:45am - 3:00pm
Friday:          Movie Night     7:30 pm - 9:00pm
Saturday:       Pancakes          8:30am - 10:30am

Yes, this makes me chuckle!!

Oh, and by the way....Friday's treat?  Jello Shooters.  YUMMY!