Thrifty Christmas Finds

I love thrift stores. We have a few around here, and one of my favorites is at one of our local churches. Check out a few of the things I picked up last week:

A vintage ceramic Santa boot .45 cents

A Boyd Bear Christmas Moose .50cents

He fits right in on my Boyd Bear Christmas tree. (We have two trees...an heirloom, heritage tree in our Living Room with all of our family treasured ornaments, and a "kids tree" with my Christmas Boyds and all of the kids favorite ornaments in the Family Room).

I also picked up a vintage Santa metal serving tray in excellent condition for .10cents! No scratches, etc, so I will be using it next weekend for our Open House! It's beginning to look a lot like an old-fashioned Christmas!!

Linked to: Finer Things Friday and Frugal Friday

M.I.A.

Yes...I'm still alive. I have been Missing-In-Action for three weeks now. In those three weeks I have hosted two fourth birthday parties (one involving 13 little boys), helped my sister endure her youngest's emergency surgery, run a preschool Thanksgiving Feast, made two Thanksgiving costumes, attended Thanksgiving dinner with each family (thank goodness I didn't host this year!), attended Black Friday festivities, as-well-as hopped online at 4 am for the best deals, made two dozen cinnamon rolls with hot chocolate and organized a craft for 13 first graders in honor of my daughter being Star of the Week, helped my husband organize an Alumni Basketball game for the day after Thanksgiving and ran the snack bar. (Yes...the day after Thanksgiving marked the opening of basketball season here, and my husband is the head coach...) Oh, and visitied with my sister who I rarely get to see who was in from Italy for all of 13 hours!!! Did I also mention I'm hosting a Pajama Party for 8 little girls here next week celebrating my daughters 7th birthday, and then the next night having 52 people for a holiday open house??
Yes...I've been missing around here, but hopefully not for much longer. I have so many things to share...ideas, recipes, decorations, and this-and-that's. I hope to see you back here soon!
'Tis the Season...I guess!

Need to Make Some Extra Cash??

Then go to bed with my husband.

No, really...last night I made $2.73 (and a fine tipped pen). This morning I went to make our bed and I found, under the sheets, what appeared to be my tip for the night. The further I dug into the sheets, the more bills I found. Apparently my husband fell asleep in his sweatpants he wore to practice that day (I know...yes, it grosses me out, too, which is why when I found dried out grass pieces, instead of making our bed, I was changing it!!) while watching the Steelers into the night, and his belongings in his pockets were "deposited" into the bed.

So the chambermaid took herself out for a cup of coffee...
Hey... finders-keepers, right??!!

I hope you got a little giggle...now visit here for more Works For Me Wednesday...

With Love, On Our Anniversary...

A marriage anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year.

Together we've worked hard to get where we are today...Together we've grown in so many ways- and most of all, in love. It doesn't matter where you go in life, what you do...it's who you have beside you. Side by side- year by year.

On Wednesday, November 4th, we celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary! Nowadays, that's no easy feat! Since our marriage, we've buried a father, two grandmothers, many friends, and our best man. We've endured three pregnancies and given birth to two healthy, beautiful children. Everything we've shared has only made us stronger, together. I know the future holds even more happiness for us.

My mother offered to babysit for us on our Anniversary and my parents gave us a gift to a wonderful Italian restaurant. We both asked eachother...would you do it all again? Our answer: Absolutely!! We wouldn't change a thing!!
“I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you.”

My husband, and my marriage...two Finer Things I am so proud of! Here's to many more!!

Works for Me Wednesday...Save Your Receipts!!

I'm not necessarily a "name-brand" girl. I do, however, like good quality things. My motto is pay more now, pay less in the long run. Most of my children's clothes come from Gymboree and Hanna Andersson (since they wash so well...you can literally have them forever!) and if they're damaged in some way from normal wash and wear, you can return them for store credit as long as you have your receipts. (Did you know LLBean guarantees every piece of clothing...for life??!! And that's why most of my and my husbands digs are from there!!!) My philosophy goes for furniture and bedding as well. I made a rather large purchase at Bed Bath and Beyond back in early spring. I bought a Liz Claiborne bedding set. We're talking the whole sha-bang...throw pillows to match, extra shams, etc. (We had gift cards to use...that's the only reason I went "all out"!!!) So, this fall when I was changing out our spring-summer bedding for our Down Comforter, I followed the manufacturers instructions to wash it. I have a large capacity washer, so it wasn't necessary to go to the laundry mat. Lo and behold, I took out the comforter to hang to dry and the whole corner was shredded. The fabric just gave way and stuffing was all over the place. I was devastated.

I still had the receipt and the packaging (the big plastic zippered bag it came in), so I packaged it up and headed back to the store. (Hey...at $400 for the set, it shouldn't have fallen apart!!) I showed the manager and she agreed but said they no longer carried it...it was clearanced at the end of the summer. Good thing I had my receipt!!! We got full credit for the bedding set. (I couldn't keep all the throw pillows and shams without the comforter they matched!) So these nights I'm enjoying new micro fleece sheets, and awaiting a new mattress memory foam topper (hoping to avoid having to purchase a new mattress...oh, our aching backs!!).

Moral of the story??: Be organized. Keep receipts in one place (and remember where), and categorize them by store. I had absolutely no intention of returning my beautiful Liz Claiborne bedding. At that price, I was sleeping in it forever! But under the circumstances, saving my receipts Worked for Me! Had I not had it...the store credit I would have received? $89 bucks! A big difference compared to $400!

Our Sports Family

My husband taught and coached football and basketball for his Alma Mater for 11 years. When we got engaged, it was announced over the loudspeaker at the State Playoff game that year, when we got married, the entire football team showed up at the church (I knew what I was "signing up" for, so our wedding, during football season, was strategically planned for a Sunday, the day after a State playoff game, and during a bye week, he was back to practice the next afternoon, and yes, I scouted along with my new husband during my honeymoon!!), and the following year, the booster club, coaches, players and their families threw us a baby shower...since I was very pregnant at the State Final game that year (She waited until three days later to arrive!! She learned early to plan around sports!!). They were our extended family. When we moved from our first house to where we live now, we were an hour and some minutes away. It was quite the haul to bring the kids to the games, only to have them last for maybe a quarter, if I was lucky. We slowly made less trips to see Daddy's games. After four years of the commute, and six state championships later, Daddy was ready for a change and a challenge. We would miss our sports family...

Last year he began teaching and coaching at our hometown high school...just eight minutes away!! Our new sports family has welcomed us with open arms. We make mostly every game now, and my daughter sports her cheerleading uniform and cheers with the high school cheerleaders the second half of each game. My son proudly sports his "jersey" (which I made since the 'real' ones were so big, and so expensive!!) that says Coach's Son...he's #00... and attends the teams practice and dinner every night before a game. He looks forward to this all. week. long!!! As soon as we pull in the parking lot, he rips his carseat straps off and yells "Gotta go Mom...I got practice now!!" My husband says he sits through the game film that night and doesn't make a sound. My three year old??!! This is his thing. Last week he was in his glory. His daddy brought him on the sidelines the last few minutes of the game (granted we were winning 40-0, so all were in a joyous mood), but the boys were coming off the field and he was high-five'ing his "teammates", as he calls them.

We took a leap of faith, and it worked out. We've planted our roots, and made our home. My husband summed it up with one phrase... "I feel like I've been there 10 years, they've accepted us so warmly." (And you coach's wives out there know how much that means!!!)
Our sports family...they are truly a Finer Thing.

Fellow Coach's Wives... Unite!!

We coach's wives need to stick together. And every dream of a coach and his family is to be able to say the words "I'm going to Disneyland!!" after a big win. Well, that's just what I'd like to help my friend, and fellow coach's wife, Amy to be able to say after her "big win".
Head on over here to vote for her and her tiny-town lovin' family to win a trip to Disneyland...the most magical place on earth!!