Life as we go it: Books

Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Thrifting

I've been a long time fan of thrift stores.

When I was younger, like as in grade school, I occasionally went to one with my mom or grandma. We usually looked at clothes and knick knacks.

In high school my artsy friend Connie and I started taking evening 'trips' to thrift stores in different towns (whoa) in search of retro shirts & dresses. We went through a phase where we thought wearing old patterned polyester men's shirts in art class was super cool!

Then when Matt and I lived in Florida we started going to every thrift store we could find (no kids! tons of free time!) in search of awesome vinyl records and mid century/vintage type furniture. It was a fun pastime for us. We'd go to the beach, stop at a beach bar for a drink, check out a thrift store, and head home to peace and quiet. So rough it was!

When we moved back to Wisconsin I'd say the thrift store trips got put on hold a bit. We worked on our home, had two kids and now we're pretty darn busy. But lately I've been sneaking out to some thrift stores with Chloe, while Liam is at 3K, in search of some long lost treasures.

I truly believe that one person's 'trash' can become another person's 'treasure.'

I thought I'd share with you the few & very inexpensive 'treasures' that Chloe and I found earlier this week at our local St. Vincent de Paul store.

So I saw this little minty deer and fell instantly in love! He had a broken neck at some point (poor little guy) but he's mended and I just love his vintage vibe. He will look great somewhere in my kitchen.

And he's multi purpose! He can be used as a little planter. He was .99 cents.

A cute new hat for Chloe. Only .50 cents. And guess what? We already lost the hat while out for a stroller walk today! So it goes to show you that it's worth getting a cheap brand new hat at a thrift store for your kid, because more than likely they'll lose it the next day anyways :)

I'm trying to think ahead this year a bit in terms of shopping for the kiddos for Christmas. The store had an entire book shelf dedicated to kids' holiday books. So I found a few that were basically brand new and they'll probably be getting them from us St. Nicholas. This one was .79 cents (instead of $9.99 brand new).

This one was .39 cents. Chloe will love it.

This one was .99 cents (instead of $13.99). Liam will love it.

And these were a total of $1.47. These kept Chloe busy in the shopping cart while at the store.

Grand total spent at this thrift store run: $5.13

Not too bad for 6 books, an Erin-fabulous decor item and a hat that's already lost :)

Monday, February 2, 2015

Snowman numero dos

Just a few quick things that have created smiles lately....

Matt's homemade bread.

Liam's 2nd snowman of the year, decorated with things from our yard.

The sun peeking through the clouds. Is it Spring yet?

The beautiful lake I feel so fortunate to live by.

Liam and Matt laughing during swim lessons.

Liam making Valentines with his Nana (Matt's mom).

These two getting along and loving each other.

Hearts around the house.

Chloe is apparently going to be our little gymnast.

Doing the splits at 9 months old!

My Earth flag blowing in the wind.

Enough snow that Matt had to get the snow-blower out.

Many library books read.

I hope you have a great week :)

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Take a look, it's in a book

At Christmastime we received a sweet assortment of books as gifts. Each of the four of us were gifted at least a couple of books. Chloe got some picture books, Liam some good interactive ones, and Matt and I got some that were/and were not on our wish lists. I thought I'd share them with you since most of us do like books, right?

Chloe

We used to lend this one from the library when Liam was little. But it's way nicer having a copy of our own (without all of the germs, random teeth marks and dried snot blobs from other kids).

I had never seen this one before Chloe got it. It's a bunch

of little peas doing random stuff. It's a cutie.

I am in love with this book. And so is Liam. It's just so cool.

One of these days I want to break out our tubes of real paint and let Liam "follow along" with

everything that happens in the book. Fun!

Liam and Chloe

Every year (this is the third year) Matt's mom gets one of these recordable books for the kid(dos).

It's fun to get them out each year at Christmastime & let the kids 'listen to Nana' read a book.

Liam

This is the giant version of this book. Liam loves it.

Did anyone else get this one this year? It's on the best seller list.

In case you didn't know -- the guy from The Office (B.J.Novak) created it.

Liam digs these paint with water books. I dig them too. They are SO easy to whip out

as an activity + they're not too messy to clean up.

Matt

Matt's cousin custom-made a family cookbook for Matt and other family members.

The recipes are all from his grandma/grandpa that are no longer with us, so this

is a pretty sweet sentimental gift that Matt will have forever.

This was on Matt's wish list.

I'm so glad that my hubby likes to cook...

I got him this one. We're hoping to expand our canning skills this coming summer/fall.

This book should be helpful with that.

No need to explain this one.

I had this book on my list. I can't wait to read it! Have your heard of this one?

A lady goes an entire year without looking in a mirror! I think it'll be an

interesting read.

This one was also on my wish list :) I've lent this one from the library four times already,

so I thought it'd be nice to just have a copy of my own. It's a great book to have if you have

an old home. It can tell you a lot about the history of your home & also teaches

you how to expand your research.

Well...that's that! We've already read the kids books about a hundred times, and Matt has glanced at his cook books. Someday I'll get to reading my books. I'll add them to my stack of 'books to read.'

Maybe I should get off this darn computer and read instead. Oh wait....I hear Chloe crying and Liam just woke up....never mind!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Vintage chart = cool art

My mother-in-law brought this little basket of vintage cook books over to our house last week. She found them at Matt's grandma's house and knew we'd be interested in looking through them.

The colors that were used to print these old books were so cool!

I love the reds and greens and yellows. The fonts. The simple-ness of it all.

And oh my goodness -- who knew there was an entire cookbook devoted to Jell-O!?

And an entire cookbook devoted to recipes with honey :)

I pulled this gem out of the bunch and just KNEW that it had to find a home in our kitchen...

...it's an old-school Ball Ready Reference Chart and I just love how it looks.

I will never have an excuse for not knowing how many pounds of squash it takes to make 16-20 quarts of canned squash (40 pounds of squash, in case you care to know).

I picked up a white frame at Target (during my weekly diaper run with the kids) for $2.99.

Obviously there are no pre-made 6 3/4 inch x 9 1/4 inch frames out there, so I bought an 8x10 and attached the chart to a piece of green card stock I had laying around.

I tested the final piece out in a few places in our kitchen...

On an open shelf by my mixing bowls... (those are Matt's dilly beans on the right side!)

On a window ledge, appropriately near some antique Ball canning jars...

And on another open shelf in our kitchen, near the cookbooks and vintage scale.

Knowing me, I'll probably move it around a couple dozen times before I decide where I like it.

Please leave a comment below and let me know which spot you like best (if you care)!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Coffee, cookies and crayons

On any given weekday there are a number of things that happen pretty routinely in our home -- a dozen diapers changed, three meals and two snacks prepared and baths given before bedtime. And then there are the 'extra' things that we accomplish (if we're lucky), such as me writing this blog post :) I thought it'd be interesting to keep track, for one day, of the things that happen here at our house. I've listed them by number to make it less boring to read! So here it goes...

- trip to the dentist (Liam's first dentist appointment!)

- cup of coffee drank by me

- blanket/pillow fort built in living room

- one-month photo taken

- trip to the grocery store by Matt and Liam

- empty tube of diaper cream thrown in the garbage

- car seat re-installed in the car (after cleaning puke out of it from this weekend)

- card received in the mail for Chloe
- loaf of banana bread baked
- dishwasher filled up
- phone call to my mom
- prayer recited before bedtime

1 1/2

- cartoons watched by Liam

- kid baths

- toddler meltdowns

- colors of Play Dough played with

- kitty bowls filled with kitty food

- closets purged of old clothes

- iPad games played by Liam

- sippy cups tossed across the kitchen floor

- magazines that came in the mail (HGTV and Parents!)

- hugs from Matt
- crayon drawings completed by Liam
- wonderful children that I got to spend the day with!

- cups of coffee drank by Matt

- "I love you mommy's" from Liam :)

- grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches made
- wet Liam diapers
- Liam outfit changes
- loads of laundry that SHOULD have been done but weren't :)

- infant meltdowns
- Chloe outfit changes
- amazing hugs from Liam
- bills paid online

- daffodils picked from our yard and placed in a vase
- Chloe poop diapers
- Chloe spit ups
- times the high chair was wiped down

5 1/4

- the time that I woke up this morning

- thank you notes written
- Chloe wet diapers
- amazing girlfriends that I spent time with at Crafty Club

6 3/4

- the time that Liam woke up this morning

- boogie wipes used (on various noses)

- books read to Liam

- cookies consumed (Liam and I shared them, it wasn't ALL me)
- nursings/breastfeeding sessions with Chloe

10
- things added to my Target shopping list
- the number of paper lantern squares (x2) that I folded during Crafty Club

________________________

Give Liam 5 minutes and this is what his play corner looks like...

Have a great Wednesday!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Blessed with books

Holy cow! (I bet you NEVER would have guessed I was a child of the 80's by the use of that expression). Liam has accumulated a ton of books in the past seventeen months.

As a mom I've realized that there IS such a thing as your kid(s) having too many toys. But, in my heart, I don't think a kid can ever have too many books :)

He's been given a bunch as gifts (when he was born, for his baptism, for his 1-year birthday). And I've found quite a few "cheapies" at rummage sales this summer (I love me some $0.25 books). And occasionally Matt and I will find one at a toy store or a book store that strikes a chord, so we'll by it.

But this week we were absolutely blessed with two huge boxes of lightly loved board books from our neighbors (thank you B&P!). Their kids are now school-aged and they're moving away, so they figured Liam would love them. And oh does he ever love them!

We've looked at each and every book already (within a 24 hour time period) and I think I've read half of them to him already. I think I'm losing my voice.

And today I made sure to put little "This Book Belongs To Liam" bookplates on all of the books that he already had. I just think it's cool and important that he knows which books were given to him as gifts by his grandparents, cousins, us, etc. My mom STILL has books at her house that have my name or my brothers' names written on the inside cover. It's fun to look back at them and remember reading them as a kid.

Here are the little woodland-animal-style bookplates I bought a while back at an awesome local home shop, Nest: