Little Luxuries

I was reading over at Barbara Frank's blog about the little luxuries she enjoys that don't cost much money. I thought I would share a few that I have been enjoying lately.

Flower seeds! I recently bought a few more packets ($1.09 each) to fill in around my perennials. I don't really need to do this, but I want to and enjoy the variety of flowers I get.

After Easter I picked up a couple of bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs that I have squirrelled away for a little treat. I love those little eggs with the crunchy shell.

I like to make a weekly trip to Sprouts and I have been buying a special bar of rose petal soap to enjoy in the shower. It is my very own bar!

And then there are books I put on my wish list through Paperback Swap. I mainly wish for school books or book club books, but there are a few books that I really would like to have but they are more money than I want to pay for a book for me that I just want to read and they are not books that are inexpensive or easily found used. They are mostly educational philosophy type books. Today Einstein Never Used Flash Cards came in the mail! I can't wait to read it as it I expect it to give a different view of having children memorizing lots of info. Two books that have been on my wish list for a long time are Poetic Knowledge and Norms and Nobility. The waiting makes it really exciting when I find out my wish has been granted!

I get a lot of things I wouldn't normally buy thanks to working deals at CVS and Walgreens. This past week I paid 88 cents for a brand new scrubby brush because of $3 Register Reward I earned. I know that is a little thing but a new scrubby brush is a real treat for me!

Feeding the birds is a luxury when you are feeding 6 people, a dog, a hamster and 2 reptiles on a budget. But I enjoy having them visit our yard and watching their antics.

Are there things you are enjoying that don't cost much? I would love to hear about them.

Simple Joys

Do you know how hard it is to find a picture of cabbage without worms all over it? I think they are the same worms I have on my kale.

* Cabbage! This is my new food addiction. I just finished eating black bean and cabbage tacos. Much tastier than lettuce! Yum!

* Witnessing my children belt test in Taekwondo and break boards with their FEET at their end of the year program! It was very cool. They are just ordinary looking children...but watch out!

* Getting away with my husband all alone! We took a little trip to south Texas. We stayed in a wonderful B&B in Brenham on the way back home. The weather was perfect and driving the back roads of Texas was beautiful.

* Sonic Happy Hour, conversations in the car and spotting nature as we drive down the road.

* Trey earned his 2nd class rank in Scouts! I am very proud of him.

* Getting to visit my sister and her family! She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and it was good to be able to be with her. We enjoyed a couple of really good meals. There is some seriously yummy food in and around New Braunfels! The Gruene Onion! Oh my. So tasty!

* Watching my garden grow. If I get some veggies out of this I will be thrilled, but even if not there is something very therapeutic and good about working outside, weeding, watering, stringing a trellis, and soaking in the life of it all.

* Surviving another year directing our home school co-op. I have learned a lot and God is using this in my life in many ways. I am thankful for the opportunity!

* Listening to the crazy mockingbird that has taken up residence in the Mulberry tree outside my bedroom window. The other day his tweet reminded me of a ringing cell phone!

* Sweet iced tea with lime! Watermelon. Cherries.

* Sunshine! After all the rain it is a real treat to see and especially FEEL the sunshine!

* Mom healing from her emergency surgery! She is still building up stamina but she is doing really well.

* Dinner on the deck tonight with our whole family. It was a leisurely time with a cool wind blowing. I enjoy my kiddos so much and we all share a wickedly funny sense of humor. Good times.

* Painting the kids bathroom a bright green. Asparagus. New shower curtain and a general sprucing up. It is funky and fun.

* Home Goods! What a fun store and I have found several things for really good prices.

* Windows Vista thanks to Ryan. I'm loving it. I am addicted to Excel so more options means more fun!

To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds and watch their renewal of life - this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do. ~Charles Dudley Warner

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Little Doggie sniffing his toy while taking a walk about our raised beds. An old wagon is one of my favorite yard tools.

These are our raised beds. I am growing lettuce, kale, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapenos and beans. Oh, and cilantro, basil, rosemary and parsley. Some of the herbs are out here, others are tucked here and there in my flower beds. We have had so much rain I have not had to water very much.

As you can see we are finally winning the battle with the bunny rabbits by wrapping each bed with wire. Mike secured the bottoms by screwing old boards along the bottom edge. No digging under! The bunnies are so sad about not being able to get into the garden they don't even come into our backyard any more. They are, however, still enjoying my front flowerbeds. I was told that human hair is deterrent so when I gave Ryan a trim the other day I scattered the clippings around my precious posies. Not sure if it helps but I felt like it was a useful thing to do with his hair.

I am contemplating making my own bug spray today. I've spotted a mass of aphids all over my Mexican Milkweed. I also am thinking about brewing some compost tea. (Anyone do this? Pointers or tips?) These are two websites I have particularly enjoyed reading on these two topics:

Emily Compost (Isn't that a cute name?)

Little House in the Suburbs (Love this site! Ivory has lots of great ideas.)

Who loves a garden
still his Eden keeps
Perennial pleasures plants,
and wholesome harvest reaps.
~Amos Bronson Alcott

Texas Prickly Poppy

On a recent trip to south Texas this wildflower caught my eye. We saw it all along the roadsides. It reminds me of a white buttercup only its big petals were even more floppy and flowy in the breeze. And look that prickly stem! This is one flower I was not picking.

Mike pulled over on the side of the road so I could get a better look (and a picture or two) of these flowers. Just look at that wonderful big yellow center!

Upon returning home I pulled out my trusty Roadside Flowers of Texas, a book you simply must have if you live in Texas. The wildflowers in this book are not photographed but they are painted by a woman named Mary Motz Wills. It is a beautiful book and very helpful if you must know what wildflowers you see as you go about the state like I do. The text of this book is written by Howard Irwin. Mr. Irwin tells me this is a Texas Prickly Poppy. I think the names suits it perfectly!

I love being asked to identify plants, and I don't know which gives me more pleasure: to know what they are or not to know what they are. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Take the Risk!

On one of our weekly runs to the library I was browsing the New Book section. That is when I came across Ben Carson's new book entitled Take the Risk: Leaning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk. I have always wanted to read the highly recommended Gifted Hands by Dr. Carson. When I saw this book I decided to give it a try even though the subject matter of taking risks is not something I really wanted to embrace.

I loved this book!

Dr. Carson is a very thorough thinker. If you are familiar with him or his books you probably know he is a neurosurgeon who was one of the first to perform a hemispherectomy of the brain to help a patient who suffered from intense seizures. He also successfully separated conjoined twins who were joined at the head. Thorough thinking is necessary to decide to take the risk of performing such serious and tedious surgeries.

In the book he gives a 4 question guideline for thinking through any risky decision. They are simple questions that even a child can answer. The questions focus ones thinking to really see if the benefits outweigh the risks of any risky decision.

Should I share the questions? I really don't want to deter you from reading the book. You will even if I share the questions, right? I want to put them here because then I can find them when I forget what they are. And I know I will forget. It is just how it is with me.

• What is the worst thing that will happen if I do this?


• What is the best thing that will happen if I do this?


• What is the worst thing that will happen if I don't this?


• What is the best thing that will happen if I don't this?

Other aspects I loved about this book is that he shares his faith openly and honestly. He also shares his struggles to learn which I especially loved reading about how he over came. When he was still in elementary school he was making very poor grades. So poor he was called Dummy and made fun of by his peers. His mother, who raising two young sons on her own, told the boys she was going to pray that night about what she was going to do about their failing grades. She was going to pray until God answered her and if it took all night, well, so be it. Dr. Carson says he remembers going to bed that night with great expectation. He knew his mother would hear from God.

The next morning his mom shared what she believed God had told her the night before. They were going to make some changes in their home life. She severely limited their television watching. She let them pick one (or was it two? I forgot) shows a week to watch and that was all. Then she required that they start reading library books. She even had them write a weekly book report. It didn't take Ben long to discover that if he read library books about what he was supposed to be learning in school he would vastly improve his grades. This is theme through out his college education. He has an uncanny ability to examine and modify his study habits to increase his learning. (More thorough thinking!) This wasn't the point of the book, but it appealed to my interest in educational philosophies that are vastly different (and often opposite!) of those taught to me in my education classes in college.

This was a really good book. It is especially easy to read for non-fiction and I loved learning about Dr. Carson's life. As a result of reading this I have ordered Gifted Hands and it should be here any day from Paperback Swap!

Spring Spruce Up

Thrift store lamp, new quilt and a few of my Mother's Day flowers in thrift store jar made in Belgium.

Reading thrifty blogs is a fun past time I enjoy. I am always impressed by what people seem to find curbside, at Goodwill and at the thrift store and I like the spark to imagination as I glean good ideas. I do have one problem. When I go looking for that wonderful bargain I seem to only find a bunch of junk. It is frustrating. I want fabulously cute and purposeful things for pennies. I am convinced that I must have the worst thrift stores in the whole United States. Or perhaps all of you are finding the good stuff? It doesn't help that I am pretty picky. I am also a minimalist who lives in a small house. I am very much against bringing things home that I don't really need so most of the things I consider buying I usually talk myself out of because I can't think of a purpose for it. This is probably not a bad thing. But it means I am not bringing home much in the way of thrifty finds.


Then one day I spotted a pair of white lamps at a local Goodwill. We were in there looking for suit coats for some Sherlock Holmes skits we were going to do at our home school co-op. I knew immediately that I loved the lamps. What is not to love with that white hobnail look that is reminiscent of something my grandmother would have owned. Even though new lamp shades can be pricey. I decided to buy the lamps anyway. Even if I keep them in the attic I will be happy to own them. So they came home with me. $10 for the pair.

After I gave them a good scrubbing with soap and brush to remove all the dust they sat in my little computer nook for several months. I was going to put them up in the attic but lots of other things were happening in my life and it wasn't a priority. Plus, I liked looking at them.


Weeks passed and then one day I was in a local Ross store. I happened upon two small white lamp shades that were marked down to $4.98 each. They were perfect for my hobnail lamps! I especially loved their unusual shape. I bought them and the rest is history! For a total of $22 I now have two new bedside lamps that I love! The one pictured above is on my side of the bed. (I cleaned off all the water bottles just for you!) Mike has one, too, but he doesn't have any pretty pink flowers on his side of the bed.


The other thrifty find in this picture is my new quilt! I bought it new, but it was inexpensive as far as large quilts go. I bought a king size even though our bed is a Queen. I am so glad I did! I love that it has generous edges and I can fold down the top to show the striped underside. I also found three pillow shams...two queen sized and one king.

I am now inspired to spruce up our bedroom. I want to repaint our bedroom a light blue (its a dark gold color that I love, but I am ready for something different) and I have been repainting a mirror that I am going to hang in here over my vanity.

The other day I pulled a recently hand stitched hand towel out of the dryer and it dawned on me that the pattern I had used matches my quilt! I bought a couple of white pillow cases (on sale at Target) and plan to stitch those flowers on the cases. They will look perfect with my quilt.

Spring Notes

It seems like we have had weeks and weeks of cloudy, drizzly, wet weather. Everything is very green, but the sun has been a rare sighting. This morning I have all the windows open and it is cool through out the house. I am sitting on my bed as I type this and I can hear the birds tweeting in the mulberry tree outside of my window.

Everything is bright green, so much so it almost is painful to look at. My perennials are mostly all in bloom with the exception of my garden phlox and Mexican petunia.

We have a black wrought iron fence across the back of yard and we look into a lot of wild growth. We are fortunate to back up to something that is smaller than a creek but bigger than a drainage easement. I am not sure what you call it but there is plenty of wild life living down there....coyotes, raccoons, possums, rabbits (too many), owls, hawks, and big fat snakes (one of which visited us yesterday) and tons of frogs that can be heard croaking all night long.

Because I made the mistake of planting Mexican Petunia in my flower beds we are overrun with it. I have been gradually moving it to the fence line. In south Texas you can see this blooming everywhere so I am going for that sort of look in our yard. Hopefully I won't regret this decision. The majority of them bloom purple but I have some that also bloom pink thanks to a flower sharing friend.

My gardens are all sprouted no thanks to the runny babbits. They seem to especially like jalapenos...which I originally had planted from seed but now have had to replace with some from the feed store. I am considering doing some heavy mulching around my raised beds. The grass doesn't grow and it gets fairly wet after a good watering because it is all downhill.

Mike has replaced our inadequate rabbit barriers with chicken wire. I sure hope they can't figure out how to get through that! I have been feeling a certain kinship with Mrs. McGregor from the Tales of Peter Rabbit and have been contemplating the setting rabbit pies on my windowsill. I never thought the day would come when I would feel that way about the cute bunnies.

I've spotted a few butterflies floating around, but not many. I picked up a new butterfly net a few months ago in eager anticipation and I have planted parsley and dill in the hopes of attracting them again this year.

I love this time of year!