Collecting and a bit of couponing

Hi everyone, first of all I'd like to share that I don't know if it's me, blogger or what, but I've been having the darnedest time trying to leave comments on several blogs lately. Wendy, I've tried a few times at your blog, just wanted to let you know that I'm at least reading your blog if you don't see a comment from me... I'll keep trying.  Adding Goose and Binky blog too... keeps making me sign in and I am already signed in. My post won't go though!!!! grrrr.....

So... for some reason I'm digging old game boards lately. Caleb and I found an old chess and Parcheesi board at an estate sale the other day after his driving test... oh yes! he passed!!!!  (Glad that's over.) Anyways, I love the designs and colors of the boards, they make me happy. I want a whole wall of vintage game boards someday and also I'm loving old paint-by-number paintings too.

Coupon trip today! 

Picked up stuff to stock up on and some things for my mom.  

Some good deals; 

big deodorants...seventy five cents each, the little ones...twenty five cents each.

(okay, it did feel a little weird with that much deodorant in my cart.)

Free candy bars and 4/ twenty five cent toothpaste.

My best deal ever!!!!

The store paid me $3.54 to walk out of the store with these John Frieda products:)

Check coupons, if they don't say "excludes travel and trial sizes" than you can use them and save big money.

I had 4/$5 off coupons; Sale at the store was $4.99 on the big ones and the trial size was only $1.49. I could of bought all trail sizes and walked away with much more money, but I wanted the free product more than the cash.

Smitten with...

 my Noah... he's just a cutie:)

with the eight baby bunnies in my strawberry patch...

with my garden...

mama bunny helped herself to some lettuce last night...

Getting a fence!

Remember these mittens I am so smitten with?

One of my dearest and talented friends made me a pair!

Lovely surprises in the mail:)

Can't wait for winter!

Smitten with my estate sale $2 box of vintage crepe paper/flower making stuff,  full of goodies...

with this very old envelope inside my $2 box...

and inside the envelope 3 prefect condition Aunt Jemima rag dolls.

Noah is smitten with his rocker chair that I also bought at the estate sale.

He loves to sit in it when he reads.

Smitten with my Mother's day gifts from Autumn:)

Cute owl pillow!

mama squirrel with her three precious ones...

sweet little carnations, my favorite flowers...

a 1930's photo of the Dionne quints from Canada, (my mom is related to them.)

The one wearing the necklace is named Annette.

and my new Kindle from the boys:)

Reading: The Scarlet Letter... again.

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Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.

We went for a long walk along the river and had Chinese take-out for dinner:)

Such a nice day!

Shooting the Breeze and a Treasure Hunt...

Hello Everyone, It's been almost two weeks since my last post. This morning I woke up early (7:30am) to the sounds of city workers cutting down our neighbor's tree. Nice! So I dragged myself out of bed; gave my mom her medicines, checked emails and grabbed a cup of coffee. Not too much to going on around here really... sort of waiting for the weather to warm up. Noah and I have been working on a lot of math lately (not our favorite subject) but we needed to catch up on stuff. Last night we watch a great documentary called The Cats of Mirikitani, if you get a chance you should watch it. We found it on netflix. I think we'll try our hand at some Japanese Cat art this week. Noah is signed up for some exciting Spring classes at our homeschool co-op: Pond life at the Nature center, Odyssey of the Mind, Solar Energy and Drama. That should keep him busy, I don't know what I'd do without these classes for him!

Lately, if I can get out of the house twice a week I'm pretty lucky...not counting taking walks in the neighborhood with Noah, we try to walk every other day at least. I've been keeping busy with taking care of my mom. She's fine, but not able to do much for herself anymore. She had a little fluid in her lungs but seems to be better now. She sleeps a lot and paints very little these days, she listens to Christmas music (which makes me very sad.) She doesn't have much of an appetite. I give her her meds twice a day, fix her meals, clean her rooms and I do her laundry. Autumn comes over and keeps her entertained with playing cards and just spending time with her. My sister can only come for one day every two weeks now, kind of a bummer. But she has to work. Brad told me to pick somewhere to go on Saturday while my sister was in town to stay with my mom. I chose to go to the Livingston Antique Market. We decided to take Noah along with us. Had I known this place is so huge I would of thought twice about bringing Noah. It takes about three hours or so if you want to see everything... which I do:) I told everyone that we were on a treasure hunt and they could choose one treasure, so that made it more fun for Noah. Uh, hum... with a $20 limit of course.

My treasure: a hand painted black tray, I like the crackles and the nicks in it. Noah's treasure: a Crown glass topped quart jar (Canadian) filled to the brim with polished semi precious stones. A pretty awesome treasure! Brad's treasure: 4 Hardy Boys books. He had read every single Hardy boy as a kid. (nerd) anyways, he spent the rest of the weekend reading them. Noah is reading, The Mystery of Cabin Island. Spooky!!!

If I had tons of money to spend, this lamp would be mine!

An adorable mad Easter bunny? Made me chuckle.

Even though it was a gloomy (non-Spring) like weekend, I did enjoy myself...

Hope you had a nice weekend too!

Collecting...

Salt and pepper shaker collection: I've added three new sets to my collection.

On the forth row down are my new shakers. The cute Florida alligators and (my new fav) the blue squirrels (too bad they aren't purple) comes from Autumn's friend Mitzi who has a few booths at some antique malls here in mid-Michigan. She has an adorable blog here Mitzi's Collectibles with loads of antique and crafting goodies.
The green wise owls are from the Mega Mall here in Lansing, (Noah's favorite.)

My latest embroidery piece... Ms. Sniffy:) I do love all things squirrely!

Gifts for the Birthday Girl

Here's the birthday gifts we bought for Autumn this year.

3 chalkware carnival prizes and the sweetest pink metal serving tray,

(I wanted to keep the tray for myself... but I didn't;)

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Have a great weekend, oh yes! I've seen three robins, spring is here!

To be or not to be...

that is the question!

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Homeschooling is just too fun sometimes!

"Alas, poor Yorick"

Noah as Prince Hamlet, Shakespeare unit.

My mom's latest scenery painting. This one she did for me. She keeps busy with her art.

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Autumn is enrolling in an Antique's College.

She would love to have her own antique shop or an estate's sales company someday.

Here's a few of my favorite pieces that's she's been appraising.

Atlas E-Z Seal Aqua canning jar with lid


Audubon print of Orioles

Twin Winton squirrel cookie jar.

Hull Pottery; Wild flower cornucopia

Chalkware carnival prize rooster.

My new/old tin toys...

found at an estate sale that Autumn and I went to last week.

Not sure if they are vintage or reproductions, either way I like them... they make me smile!

Motorcycle man with his sidecar baby... wind him up and he goes!

I love this carousel! Fair goers in little rockets and canoes.

A little electrical tape and I fixed it.

Pull the lever back and weeee!!!!!

Amazing how entertaining this is to us. Simple fun!

Vintage Goodies...

Autumn went to an estate sale the other day. They had posted many photos of the items for sale online. She went extra early to get an entrance number. She was number 18. I had told her of a few things to grab for me if she could. I got two of the three things I wanted... not too bad. We also talked on the phone while she was there. I was telling her "look for this, look for that."

My wonderful scores:)

A BIG rooster Carnival Chalkware Prize. $10

Autumn was told the man who lived there actually won this at a carnival in 1932.

A vintage Dapol yellow chef napkin holder.$4

It's in good shape, usually the facial features are worn off.

I missed out on the plastic yellow cat salt and pepper shakers... dang!
But she surprised me with a cute trio of squirrels... yeah!

Autumn found some stuff for her Etsy shop. Some super cute owl patio lights.

Also for her pin-up photos some of those tulle under skirts...

there's a name for those things... it just escapes me.

Oh yes, crinolines... that's it.

Sunday Morning Outing...

Autumn had a wedding shoot near town so she spent the weekend with us. I love when she comes back home to stay the weekend ;)

So this morning after breakfast we did "Autumn's and mom's favorite things" antiquing and thrifting.

Here's my antique finds of the day;

Kissing Strawberries shakers... very 50's!

Carnival Chalkware Kitty

My first piece! I've been eyeing these adorable chalkware carnival prizes from the 20's, 30's, and 40's for some time now. The kind of prize a young man would win for his sweetheart at a carney's booth. Chalkware prizes came in all sorts of characters. I'm thrilled my first one is a kitty. Half price today!

Cast Iron doorstop... Noah loves this ship!

I didn't have much luck at the thrift store; some extra cereal bowls (we never seem to have enough) and a cute baby~blue flowery summer skirt. But Autumn found an amazing pink vintage swim suit! It's just adorable!!! I'm guessing the 40's/50's era. I can't believe she found it at the thrift store for a few dollars. It was a wonderful way to spend Sunday morning!

Tuesday's Homeschooling...

Field Trip Day!

Autumn, Noah and I decided to have a field trip day. It was a lovely warm day! We first picked up Autumn and went a few doors down to Kevin's parents home. Where we visited with some really sweet horses.

Here's Autumn with Toy Solider.

Noah with some of the other horses.

Then we were off to an antique mall for a history lesson!

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Noah trying out a butter churn.

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Autumn in her favorite shop.

We stopped off for lunch in a small cafe and on the way home we went to the Foods for Living store for my favorite locally made soap from Hearthwood Farms. I've been buying soap from her for years. Some of my favorite scents are In From the Barn, Cottage Garden and Michigan Cherry. Really, all of the soaps are so yummy! You should check out her web site. She makes some of the soaps with milk from her own goats.

I wish you could smell this!