Thursday Thrift Therapy

I got to go to THREE thrift stores today. Yesterday was a flurry of Christmas shopping and grocery shopping. Today I needed a little thrifting and fun.

First stop: the Super Cheap Thrift Store. We parked next to a red pick up and noticed that there was a little dog sitting on the dashboard. Then we saw another little dog siting int he seat and what looked like a bit of white hair on another dog under the steering wheel. The Bean and I looked in the window and there was EIGHT dogs in the truck. Eight teeny little yappers. Seven of them just looked at us, but the one on the dashboard really wanted to get at us. Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap!

Second stop was the City Hospital Thrift store followed by a rather unspectacular trip to the Salvation Army.

These signs are words carved into thick pieces of Lucite. They came from either the football or basketball field house at the University. The lady that is in charge of the thrift is a House Mom at a Sorority and she often brings in University cast-offs. I thought I could use them in some way shape or form in our Homeschooling or just in life. They were 3/$1.00.

At the Super Cheap Thrift we spotted a lady putting out a cartload of clothes. Hanging on the side of her cart were two Arkansas Razorback Jerseys. I put The Bean on alert and he followed her all around the store and grabbed them as soon as she put them on the rack. They were the right sizes for DH and The Bean and only 75¢ each. I looked them up on ebay and they are $29.99 but the auction says they retail for $100.00, which I cannot imagine. But they were a good deal for us at 75¢!

This picture is a mixture of items from all the thrift stops today. The silver tray in the back is engraved "Merry Christmas" and is marked Rogers Silver on the back. This was $1.50. I polished it up and it is practically a mirror now. The little handmade Santa and Snowman ornaments were 5¢ each, as were the angel made out of a silk magnolia blossom and the little vintage plastic basket of poinsettias. In the center is a Santa cup. Now, I have more Santa cups than should be allowed right now. But, this one is a Holt Howard and I was so tickled to find it for 25¢ today. My others are old JAPAN ones, but none of the are Holt Howard. I adore Holt Howard things - they are so charismatic. The 25¢ book is "Christmas Around the World" and tells how Christmas is celebrated in every country. There are also paper dolls for each country. But, if you cut out the dolls for Sri Lanka, you can't read about China and if you cut out the China dolls you can't read about Sweden and so forth and so on. It's from the early 1970's and not very well planned out as far as the reading and cutting is concerned.

A white swan for my Matte White Pottery Collection. This one has a glossy glaze on it and I really prefer the Matte glaze. But, I have several pieces with the glossy glaze that I display near, but not with the Mate White. This one says, "Merry Christmas - Love, Helena" on the bottom. I am such a sucker for anything someone handmade!

And, lastly a really blury bad awful photo of a piece of costume jewlery that I picked up at the Salvation Army. It is a really pretty shade of yellow and made of all glass beads. The clasp says Western Germany on it so I know it's old. I am pretty sure with the exception of an orange FireKing bowl that this in the only other vintage item I have ever found at the Salvation Army. I had to buy it then, right??? Only $1.00, so no harm done.

On a side note, the Medical bills have started to roll in for The Bean's Mystery Illness. Let's see....$1,250.00 for the CT Scan. $1,400.00 for the Emergency Room. Six doctors visits at $85.00 each. One Doctor Visit at $150.00. One prescription at $100.00. And, I won't even mention the $360.00 for Homeschool Supplies. But, the good news is that the insurance finally paid something! A whole whopping $112.00 total. What the hell? Oh, well. All is well now, so that is all that matters.

Happy Friday! It's going to snow and be 15 degrees here. Yikes!

A Ham? You Shouldn't Have!

Our Front Door

I finished Christmas Shopping today. Yee-ha. I am normaly done in September, but with all the circumstances we have had around here, my shopping went untouched. Well, I had done a bit here and there through the year, but not as much as normal. I belong to several boards were deals are posted every day. A new one to me this year is Fishing For Deals. On their forums people list great deals that are often pulled or sold out ratherly quickly. I am addicted to it this year checking it five or six times a day. I ordered something that was $39.99 for $11.00 shipped to my door. And, now that it has arrived, it was a deal at the original price let alone the $11.99 price. Oh, how I love seeing the UPS man bring me goodies and I didn't have to venture out into traffic and crowds and foul cranky people (okay, that's me) to get it. Yesterday there was a code listed for $30.00 off a $30.00 purchase at Kodak and I was able to order a 250 piece puzzle of my family for the Bean and only paid $3.00 shipping. It shipped today so that is one more fine present in transit. Helloooo Mr. UPS man.

Some of my Christmas-y junk

Today we went to Target and I tried to lose DH and The Bean so I could do my shopping. I finally sent them down the street to EB Games so I could have some alone time. I piddled around and picked up the last of my gifts for everyone. I got DH a fancy weatherband AM/FM/TV radio thingy for his arm so he can listen to the Razorback games that "I am buying season tickets for again this year". At the price of those tickets, I shouldn't even be buying him a gift to boot. While I shopped, I calmly suggested that perhaps they might want to do a little shopping for, oh, you know, someone. But, buying a gift for me is a touchy subject with The Husband.

Cast iron birch trees on the porch.

(They don't show up as well as I would like).

On our first Christmas together we lived in a little house and he worked at a grocery store down the highway. There was only one store that sold things that might interest me in between the two locations. And, siting outside that store there was a row of wooden porch rockers. I commented on the rockers one day as we passed by and that I'd like to have one someday. One night DH announced that he had bought my Christmas gift, "On the way home". And, I said, "Oh goody! A rocking chair!" And, I was just kidding because that is the only place "on the way home" that I could think of and it just sort of popped out. My whole family can look at a 12" x 12" square box and tell you there is a George Foreman Grill in it or a beach ball or a pack of gum. We just know what's in there. My dad is particularly good at this feat. But, this just popped out of my mouth and I couldn't see it or anything. He could have just said, "No!" or "Ha ha" or something to cover it up. He had bought me a rocking chair and he had hid it in the garage and he was not happy about the fact that I guessed it. Not happy would be a real gross understatement. Christmas Eve that chair got hurled into the living room like a sack of dog-doo and he threw himself in his chair with his arms across his chest and just sulked all night. And since then, every birthday, Mother's Day and Christmas, my gifts do not appear until one and a half seconds until I am supposed to open them. I am not allowed to touch them either. I do know that if he handed me a canned ham wrapped in paper, I would play dumb and guess it was a hairbrush. I'm not stupid. I know how he is about this sort of thing. Gift buying isn't so stressful at my house, but gift getting is the pits.

1972 Santa Mouse from my childhood.


Don't you have a naked Santa in your collection?

These are doll making Santas. But, having a naked one is a tradition in my family.
We had torrential rains this week. There is a possibility of 6-10 inches of snow in my area this weekend. We don't do snow in Arkansas.

Cake Day!

Happy Birthday Mumsie.

You're a great Mom.

You're a great Baw.

You're a great friend.

Love,
Shara

Ding A Ling

The Bean and I took a drive around the Historic part of town recently and found these great old houses decorated for Christmas. The top one is blurry due to the fact that it was photographed by The Bean. He's getting a Digital Camera for Christmas, so I am hoping his photography skills will improve.


Friday morning my Dad called and told me that his eyes were practically swollen shut. I found that to be odd enough, then he added, "And my ding-a-ling is swollen too." That could quite possibly rate as the top rated TOO MUCH INFORMATION statement in my entire life! He said he called the Doctor, but they absolutely couldn't see him until Monday or Tuesday. So, he thought he would go to the Emergency Room if it got worse. Instead, he went to the casino. (!)

That night he called and said his cheeks were starting to swell up too and they were beet red. He told me he started a new high blood pressure medication on Monday. I assummed, and he did too, that it was NOT working and his blood presure was rapidly increasing. I could barely sleep that night, just knowing that he would most likely internally combust from High Blood Pressure that night. He called the next morning to say he was going to the ER. Thank goodness.

The Bean and I got ready and met him there. It's about an hour from our house to the hospital. When we got there, I really didn't know what to expect. Swollen eyes. Swollen cheeks. Beet red cheeks. And that other ailment that we won't mention again. Ahem.

When I saw him, I could immediately tell that he was having an allergic reaction to something, so I started quizzing him. And, once again, I, Dr. Shara, solved the great medical mystery. He had poison ivy. In December. He had been in the yard picking up sticks and walking around in the woods behind his house. It was windy and his hair kept blowing in his eyes so he swept it out of his eyes with his hands, thus getting the poison ivy in his eyes. As for the other matter, seems it is a long walk into the bathrom when you are picking up sticks in the woods, so you just "go" where you are. Thus the spreading of the poison ivy to his nether regions. My Dad is a ding a ling.

Crappy Christmas!

Best Christmas Decoration EVER.

The Bean and I went for a drive yesterday. I spotted this porta potty in the yard of a newly constructed ritzy house.

My kind of people!

Smoke and Fire

This afternoon as I was standing in the driveway untangling Christmas lights, I noticed a young boy running down the sidewalk towards me. He was running really fast and out of control with his arms flailing as he ran. As he got closer, I realized that even though I didn't recognize him, he seemed to be running straight at me. He ran right up to me, stopped and said, "That house blew up!" At that precise moment I heard sirens coming off the highway. I asked him "What house blew up?" and he pulled me over about five feet so I could see beside my house onto the street behind me. That's when I saw the huge plumes of black smoke rising up into the air. It turns out that this boy was walking up the street and he heard the explosion and saw the fire and he was absolutely terrified. He was only 9 years old. He took off running as fast as he could until he found a grown up to protect him. And, that grown up was me. I was thankful that I was out there because I fear that he might have run three miles into the woods or the highway just to get away from that noise and scariness. I am also thankful that he did find someone responsible and not a pervert that would have hurt him since he was so vulnerable. Everytime a fire truck would go by, he would cover his ears and cower by the front door. He was really shook up.

I grabbed the cellphone and keys and took The Bean and our new friend and walked around the block to see what was going on. The Bean wanted to check it out and Cody was still scared so I wanted him to see that the firemen were handling it and everything would be okay. (I also needed to find someone that he belonged to and return him!) When we got back there, there was about six fire trucks from all the surrounding cities, lots of police cars, rescue units, ambulances and people running and standing everywhere.

The people that lived in the house were sitting in the grass across the street watching their house burn. They were all okay and they were holiding their cat and dog. They seemed very calm, but they may have just been in shock. I really felt bad for them. The man wasn't wearing a shirt and they were all barefoot. It had reached nearly 70 degrees today, so everyone was dressed lightly, but it was getting cooler as the day went on. Speculation is that they have teen aged kids and their band was about to rehearse. Apparently they overloaded the breaker box and it blew up or at least caught on fire which blew up the gas line or something along those lines. The complete garage and the back half of the house were just gone. The firemen brought them out some clothes and jackets which appeared to be fine, so I am hoping that at least the things in the bedrooms will be okay. I cannot imagine losing everything. Bless their hearts.

Cody's older brother finally came around looking for him. When they saw each other, I imagined a "running through the sunflowers to be reunited" kind of moment. But, instead, the elder one said, "Where have you been you little f^cker? I been lookin' all over this G@d D@mned street for you!" and he drug him off by his sleeve. Poor Cody. He had a bad day.

I watched the EMT workers and the firemen all work together. Every time one fireman would be reunited with another, they made contact by touching their arm or their back. I thought it was really sweet, even though I don't think firemen want to be thought of as "sweet". The EMT workers stayed and checked the fireman and policeman and got them all bottles of water and made conversation with them to make sure they were okay. I'd never really seen firemen at work. I knew they worked hard and had a brotherhood, but I saw it first hand today.

*I wrote this last night, but this morning I read in the paper that that the house is a complete loss. They did get all their pets out safely and no one was hurt. And, the jacket that I saw the man give the man in the fire was one that a neighbor gave him. The lady was saying how nice everyone was being - bringing them water, clothes and such.

And So It Begins

Today was our first day of Home Schooling. I had a big workbook that we were doing the past two weeks to get us through until the Big Box of Homeschooling Stuff arrived. I figured we might as well start on a Monday so we could figure out our schedule for the week. Today we did a little bit of everything. We ended up working for three hours. He goes to school for seven hours a day, but he's only in the core classes for four hours a day and that includes getting prepared time and cleaning up time for the next class, bathroom breaks and going in between classes. So, I figure he really only has about 3 1/2 hours of real class time adn that still doesn't allow for questions, interuptions, etc. I know some days will take longer and some les time. We ended with Science today and it was more time consuming and involved, so I think we might do several days worth of Science at a time and spread everything out over the rest of the days. I opened his Math Book to the first page and guess what the first problem was? 6 + 5 = ?. Seriously? He is in the 6th GRADE! So, we skipped up to Page 105 to Fractions and we seem to be more on track to where he was in school. I may need to find a more advanced book once we get to the end of this one! I also need a Social Studies Curriculum because the one that came is all about Asia and Europe. They were studying Civil War - WWII in school, so I'd prefer to stick with that era. Besides, we live in the heart of lots of Civil War Battlefields and other historical things that we can use for examples. I am not going to Asia! ;o)

We sat in the floor of the living room at the coffee table this morning doing his work. I am not geting any younger and getting up and down from the floor got old really quick. We should be using the kithcen table, but that is covered in recent yard sale and thrifting treasures, the Christmas Card project, Swap Making and other projects that must remain untouched. (Isn't that what a kitchen table is supposed to be used for?) So, I decided to go to Wal-Mart and look for a card table to use. We found a card table for $33.76 and padded chairs for $19.76 each. So, $74.00 for a table and two chairs. But wait! What's that on the end? With a Rollback sign above it? A table and set of four padded chairs for $36.74! Cha-ching! So, now we have a "school" area that will come up and go down each night. Now we know when school starts and school ends. (And, yes, I made him add it all up and figure out how much we saved. Math!)

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I received my Sweet Sister Swap from Laura today.
She made this sweet little garland out of snowmen and snowflakes for me. It is so sweet! I decorate my bathroom all in snowmen, so it will go perfectly in there. It is laying on top of a "Magic Scarf". It really is magic! It's a hat, it's a scarf, it's a hat/scarf combo, it's a poncho, it's a little of everything! Cool! Or should I say, "Warm!".
She also included a wonderful sivler Christmas Bracelet which I love. (I cannot believe I didn't turn the photo before I posted it. How lame-O can I get? Forgive me?)
She also made this fabulous glittered "To:" and "From:" tags for my Christmas gifts. Some are too pretty to gift, so they will go in my scrapbooking and paper goods stash. I love it all - Thank you Laura!

Laura has a love of all things cupcake, so I have tried to send her lots of cupcake themed goodies. For her garland, I made paper cupcakes and "frosted" them with sugary looking glitter. Then I added sparkly red, blue and green letters to make it say, "Merry Cupcakes!" Yeah, I know, it doesn't make sense, but I thought it was cute. She said she liked it too. She has it in her kitchen for the Holidays and then she will move it to her sewing room. I made the "MERRY" seperate from the "CUPCAKES" so she could just hang up the "CUPCAKES" banner the rest of the year. If I would have taken a photo, I would post it. Seriously, I will be glad when my brain returns to full power.

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And a Christmas photo to complete the post.
I did this by turning off the flash and then moving the camera in slow circles until the shutter went off. I think it looks fun and magical.

Have Yourself a Junky Little Christmas

It's no secret that I love junk. Things that others cast aside. Rusty stuff. Chippy stuff. Half broken stuff. Junky stuff. I bring it home and tend to put it in the yard or in the garage or in the shed or in the other shed until someday I will find a use for it. Well, today, I found a use for some of my favorite things.
I got this very old iron lantern at the thrift a year or so for 75¢. It is very heavy and all crudely sautered together, so I know it's old. I filled it with old Shiny Brite ornaments for that holiday touch. And, yes, I see the cobweb above it. It's gone now. You didn't think I had a perfect house, now did you?
I have a stack of these old windows in the back yard getting all weathered. I bought twelve of them for $5.00 at a sale. I knew I didn't need twelve windows, but I have seen them for upwards of $25.00 each at the flea market. So $5.00 a dozen was a deal to say the least. I took fishing line and made "X's" in each pane to hold the Christmas Cards. I added the greenery at the top and three old Shiny Brite bells. I was pretty pleased with this little endeavor.
This old smaller pane window came from a yard sale at the house that is directly behind me. I paid for them, drove home and the guy passed them to me over the fence instead of me loading and unloading them. Since I already had twleve of the bigger ones, I really didn't need three small ones. But, I bought them anyway. They were only $1.00 and too sweet to leave behind. This one holds my wreath that I made last year out of vintage Shiny Brite ornaments. (Do you detect a Shiny Brite theme here?)
I found this little ladder at a sale once for about a quarter or so. When I paid for it, I commented that it was a sweet little ladder. The lady looked at me like I was a loon and told me it was side rails off an old baby bed. Oh. Well, it still looks like a ladder to me. The elves think so too. That white thing off to the right is the front off an old china cabinet door. I painted it white and it fits perfectly inside one of the smaller sides of the bay window.
Not the best photo - but here's the fabulous old red and white chair/step stool I bought this summer for $7.00. It had been on the porch holding an old minnow bucket, but I brought it in for Santa. Since it is red and white, it fits in perfectly. That old cabinet to the left is made of old tobacco crates. On the back it still has the writing and the name of the tobacco company. I bought it at a sale for $20.00. I think that was the first time I had ever spent that much money on something. But, I knew it was worth that and a lot more.
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I spent half the day yesterday trying to get my grocery store village on top of the wall unit. Well, not half the day, but at least an hour. It just didn't look right because there was this low point in the center. That's when I decided to add the paper churches to the center. I put an old tin ceiling panel box upside down and put the churches on it. Wah-lah. Perfect! I forgot about those churches until I saw them this year. I ordered them on Graveyard Mall last year after Christmas. They were $10.00 each, but I got them for 49¢ each. I ordered six of them at that price. They are new but really match the vintage stuff. I know I don't always have to say what I paid for everyting. But, I have so much stuff I feel I need to let people know that it's not like I'm not paying the credit card paymetns or feeding the kid to support my stuff habit.

The village is all Grocery Stores. The Creepy Guy and I met at the Grocery Store and worked in the Grocery Business, so we bought a grocery store as our first building in our Christmas Village. Then the next year we found another Grocery Store and so it began. I can't always find a new one each year. I did find a little cheapy one at Wal-Mart fo $2.00 the other day. It helps that Wal-Mart started putting out a store each year, but I can't find one this year. Has anyone seen one?

Hope everyone is having fun decorating and finding new old suprises in their boxes that they forgot about from last year. Have fun playing with your goodies and don't forget to throw in a little junk!

Wednesday is the DH's day off. Did you know that there is no fresh bread baked on Tuesdays (so none to deliver on Wednesday)? So don't go to the store for fresh bread on Wednesday. So, since I had both the guys at my disposal, I worked all three of us to death. I wanted to get the outside Christmas decorations up and done, but it was so windy that we couldn't put anything out. We did "un-decorate" and take down the scarecrows, pumpkins, etc. I also moved most of my "junk" out of the yard. I do like to incorporate some junk with the Christmas, but too much makes it look junky. Not cool junk. Just junky. The boys were supposed to rake, mulch and bag the leaves, but once I noticed how windy it was, we raked them into the ditch and Wah-lah, they are gone. Thank you Mother Nature!

So, here's the big unveiling of the living room. Ready? Here goes...Oh, yeah. Nice huh? Let's just say that I have a bit of work to do! (Holy crap, what's wrong with that cat?????) Oh, and since some of you asked about the cats and the decorations. They looooove the Christmas tree. Our little girl, Little Lady likes to sleep in her bed on her back looking up into the lights and the tree. She will be under it literally all month. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Out of the blue, the School Counselor called and left a mesage asking if we had made our DECISION yet and gone over our CHOICES yet and blabbety-blah-blah-blah. I think the Superintendent called over there and they said, "Oh, no! We didn't TELL them to homeschool." What ever. I emailed her back because I have no desire to talk to anyone at the school and told her that we left that meeting with the impression that we HAD to homeschool. "Oh, of couse not!" she emailed back. Yeah, right. They are back peddling and covering their tracks. I am over it and ready to move on and so I shall. The BIG BOX OF HOMESCHOOLING supplies arrived today and most of it looks do-able. Some of it looks scary (life Science in particular - I do not need to know how to identify the stomach contents of a camel) but luckily the Math looks easier than what they were doing (not the actual Math, but HOW they were doing it). And, I was THRILLED to see that the Teacher's (that's me) Guide is twice as thick as the Student's Book. Woo-Hoo - I do not have to be a Math Mom. ;o) We've been working on Language and Writing. I let him write silly made up sentences because I think that shows his creativity. "The cat flew to the moon on a paper plate." Not realistic, yet correct grammatically and he can identify the parts of the sentence. So, maybe his creativity will spark. He is very creative, but afraid to show it at school. His usual sentence is "The cat is fat" or something less clever.

Whoops - I promised this wouldn't be a Homeschooling blog. ;o)

P.S. Svelte - I emailed you about a litle vintage swap. ;o)

Nifty Thrifty Christmas Decor

We drug in all the Christmas stuff yesterday. I love, love, love my Christmas decorations. But, only when they are all up and looking good. When it's in tubs all over the living room I get a little overwyhelmed. It takes me over a week to do the inside and I really only decorate the living room and the bathroom. Sad, eh? I take it one shelf at a time, one small area at a time and then it's not so overwhelming.

Today I did the top shelf of the wall unit, the top shelf of the bookshelf and the table by the front door. Not much, but enough to make me start to be happy to see my new old treasures again. I have been very fortunate to find a lot of fantastic vintage Christmas treasures in the past few years. Before, my decorations consisted of new items from Wal-mart. Then I discovered the clearance sales at Target and got a lot of new things there. B, now I am totally into the vintage look and have been lucky enough to find plenty of good old vintage things at good prices plus a few new pieces that appear vintage. I got two cloche (cloches doesn't sound right??)after Christmas at Wal-Mart last year. I had hoped and dreamt of finding an old one, so I was pretty darn pleased to find a new one that looked old. All year, I have changed out the cloche from season to season and I'm happy to have it back to a Christmas theme.
Here's the top of the bookshelf. I have a massive Santa collection, but I manage to squeeze it all on a four shelf bookcase. It takes hours and every one has to be in just the right spot or they won't fit. It took me over an hour to do just the top shelf today. These are my woodland Santas. I love them all, but the fat gourd guy in front really takes the cake. I have a lot of Santas made from other things - crushed can, okra pod, acorn, stick, rock, gourds, paint brush, spool, fishing bobber, etc. I'm always looking for a new one each year. This summer If ound two Santas painted on tree bark.

This is the little cabinet by the front door. After I put it all together, I realized that every single item was thrifted throughout the last year or so. (Well, the basket was a wedding gift, but that started my whole oak splint basket collection that I have thrifted over time). All the vintage Shiny Brite ornaments in the basket came from a sale this summer -five dozen for 25¢ total. The vintage Christmas postcard was from a yard sale for 10¢. (I have about a dozen of them and they are in a tree shaped Christmas Card holder that was a display in an store. I haven't gotten a photo of that yet.) The pink bottle brush tree was at the thrift last Christmas for 50¢ and the composition faced Santa was a truly remarkable find at $1.00. The little celluloid Santa and boots are old candy containers - thrifted for 25¢ each.

I bought the lamp this summer and hadn't really found a home for it yet. It was $5.00 at a yard sale on a very, very hot Saturday afternoon. It is made out of a cool old jar with a wooden handle. I have picked up all othe old miniature Shiny Brites at thrifs, yard sales and anywhere I could over the years. Since I have always had small places to live, I have collected small ornaments. Love, love, love the lamp full of ornaments. The Shiny Brite pick on the lampshade was from a yard sale this summer - 25¢ for a gallon sized ziploc bag full of new old stock Shiny Brite pics.

Last year I participated in a vintage Christmas swap - all sorts of decorations and vintage goodies. I had more fun gathering up that swap and opening the treasures I received. I looked for a similar swap this year, but never found one. So, is anyone interested in a swap????? Vintage Christmas anything. I'm just looking for one person to swap with me - not a whole swap with lots of people. Although, if others are interested, I'll see what I can do.....

PS to Ottermom - Thanks for saying I sound like my old self. I feel like my old self again. That was nice to read. Thanks! ;o)

Some Junk To Get Me Through My Funk

In the midst of all the tumoil around here and the busy Thanksgiving weekend, I managed to squeeze a little thrifting in here and there. I thought it was true before, but I discovered that thrifting is very theraputic - not thinking about "stuff" and no pressure. Just the joy of looking at junk and finding a treasure.

This is a set of two big carved wooden bowls. Those are five very big oranges win the smallest bowl. So, they are big bowls! I love hearts in unique forms - not the cutsey country hearts. The smaller one has yellow tissue paper decoupauged on the inside and blue on the bottom. I really only wanted the larger bowl, but it was $4.00 and the smaller one was $3.00 for a total of $7.00 - or the tag said, "2/$5.00". So, I spent the $5.00 and will "fix" the tissue paper thing.

I found this little handmade quilt in amongst the stinkyola bed linens at the Super Cheap Thrift Store for 75¢. I know, can you believe it? 75¢ cents! I washed it and it is no longer stinkyola.
These vintage Christmas items all came from the S.C.T.S. too. I don't know if those are Gurley Candles or not, but for 25¢ each, I took a chance. That's a little blowmold over on the side that was 25¢ too. The Santa in the middle is an Original Peter Figuren. He laughs and squirts water out of his mouth. I knew he was quite a find when I grabbed him, but he wasn't priced and they have a "No Price, No Sale" Rule. But, when I checked out, the lady said, "Oh, a quarter outta do it". (Oh, Bless you kind lady.) The tin cookie cutters were 10¢ and I needed them like a hole in the head, but I cannot leave vintage cookie cutters. And especailly at 10¢ each! ;o)
Friday afternoon, I ran to the Dollar General to get my Grandmother some things before she came over wtih my family for our Thanksgiving Dinner. (Yes, on Friday). She needed six things she told me, but she failed to tell me that she wanted 4-12 of EACH item. So, I eneded up with an overflowing cart and the carts at DG are particularly small in the first freaking place. I had six 6 packs of Pepsi balanced on the end of the cart and I chose to jump the curb instead of walking down to the thingamabob that lets you walk out into the parking lot. So, I am sure you have already figured out that the cart went head over heels over the curb and spilled out all over the parking lot. Oh, and that wasn't bad enough. Do you know what happens to cans of Pepsi when they hit the asphalt at a high rate of speed? Well, they don't explode, but they get pinpoint holes in them and they squirt at a high rate of speed in the direction of your son that is freshly washed, combed and dressed for Thanksgiving Dinner. Squirt, squirt, squirt. Lord, what a MESS. And, everything we bought was saturated in Pepsi. So, we had to rebag it all and clean it up and get it back in the cart and to the car. Meanwhile, male customers are coming and going and avoiding eye contact with the cranky gal cleaning Pepsi off her kid. "OH NO - I GOT IT! Thanks anyway." Yeah, right. Chivalry, my a$$.

By the time we got it all cleaned up and in the car we literally had about five minutes to get home before the guests arrived. So, when I spotted a YARD SALE sign by the street, of course I stopped! I made a mad dash up to the tables and there was a lot of cool old stuff just like I like. I barely had any money with me at all. I wasn't supposed to be yard saling!

I got this little souvenir ceramic shoe by McCoy dated 1949 on the bottom, the can of Carbonox Gas Lube, the plate from Storybook Land and the box pictured in the back. The box is from "Hi-Fi Long Playing Letters" whatever that is, but it is old and sweet with pink quilted lining. What was inside the box? These wonderful vintage silk pajamas from Japan. The lady said her husband bought them during WWII and sent them home to her. (How she could sell them is beyond me).
Under a table I spotted this 5 gallon Planters Peanut Oil tin. Planters items sell well and I would assume this would be a less found item. But, I haven't looked it up yet. I paid $7.00 for everything. Well, I scrapped up $6.75 and a handful of pennies and they took it.

As I was waling out, I saw this old fruitcake tin. I have learnd that good things often come in old tins, so I picked it up and heard that unmistakeable sound of.....
BUTTONS. Oh, I love a good tinful of buttons. They told me it was $2.00, but I had already given them every penny I had - literally. I went to the car and let the digging begin. Between the glove box, under the seats, my emergency coin pouch, the bottom of my purse and some change The Bean had stuck in the cup holder, I managed to scrape up $1.80 and another handfull of pennies. I was desperate to JUNK and I needed those darn buttons! I got 'em! I haven't looked at them yet though. Some look like Bakelite and there are a bunch that look like little lemons. Should be fun to sort through when I have some free time. Perhaps in 2010??
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I found a HomeSchool Curiculum that I am happy with and it should be here later in the week. I found some materials at Sam's too, so we are going to start with that this week. I had a difficult time finding Home School materials that weren't Religion based. I just didn't think that would be the right way to go if we want to go back to school next year. But, I finally found some that is supposed to be FUN, INFORMATIVE and (yes!) EASY ON MOM. I won't be turning this into a Homeschool blog, don't worry. Just the usual - Me and The Bean and Junkin'!

Even more to say

In this weekend's edition of Parade Magazine, there was an article entitled, "The Best Friend I Never Met". It was about people that connected and became friends via the Internet. As I read the comments on my last post to my husband, I would say, "That's my friend Sarah in Missouri and that's my friend Heidi in Colorado and my friend Mary in Oklahoma, etc. I read each comment and knew they were from my friends. Friends that I have never met face to face, but friends heart to heart. Thank you for every one of you comments, your caring and your support.

And so it goes. I decided to contact the Superintendent and let him "fix" it. I knew he would. I knew the school was srong and you can dispose of a child. I had all my emails printed out, my forms from the doctors, my "No Child Left Behind" at the ready, etc. I knew they were wrong. He would fix it.

I called to set up an appointment and the Secretary told me to call the Teachers and Principal to "fix" the situation before I contacted the Superintendent. I briefly explained my problem and she connected me to him. He was not friendly, did not seem to recognize who I was and sided with the school immediately. He confirmed what I knew all along, they were concerned that his Benchmark Test Scores might be low and affect the school's scores. I knew it was all about the Benchmarks. He said they were concerned he would fail. That's what the school said too. That's the dumbest piece of logic I ever heard. "I knew the car would run out of gas, so I didn't put any in." "I knew the groceries would get eaten, so I didn't buy any." Brainiacs, they are. I told him that he should have had the opportunity to fail, the opportunity to have poor Benchmarks. "That's not our job" he said. Seriously. "That is not our job."

He asked how long Home Bound Teaching had been established. I told him the school had not ever set that up. He said then I had failed as a parent because it was MY job to set up Home Bound Teaching. WTF, I never ever heard of Home Bound teaching until about a week or so ago when the Counselor mentioned it and said that she needed to look into it because she didn't even know exactly how it worked. How am I supposed to set up Home Bound Teaching when my kid is out of sorts, sick etc.? No one even seems to care or remember that he was going through HELL over here and not just watching TV and eating candy. It is unforgiveable. I asked for asignments, papers to be picked up, reading assignments and none of the teachers ever acknowledged me. Not once.

But.

I have decided to HomeSchool. I will not have any person say that I failed as a parent. I did no such thing. I will have no person tell my son that he is "beyond help." I will not take any more, pardon me, shit. No. No more. Not me.

This is not to say that this is the end of it. I still know they are WRONG and I am right. Thank you to Vax Girl for suggesting the University Law Department. That sounds like a fabulous idea. Something they can research and see who is right and who is wrong. Part of me wants to do this the remainder of the year, then go back to school. But, part of me wants to Home School permanently or tranfer to another school. Most of me just wants to pack up and move to a tropical island. But, that's not logical. I have too much Junk.

So, for this week, as there is no school for Thanksgiving anyway, we are in a school free, worry free all out Holiday-Palooza around here. We are going to bake a turkey and pumpkin bread and roasted potatoes and custard pie and cupcakes (I provide the desserts at all the family functions) and eat and celebrate and decorate and par-tay. No school, no worries. (Well, not vocally anyway. Inside I am boiling.) But that will not prevent me from getting out my vintage Christmas lovelies and decking out the tree, the walls, the shelves, the house, and hell, the cats if they will stand still.....

I will be Thankful that The Bean is fine and he is actually looking forward to HomeSchool. And, so am I. It will be alright. But, I am still mad.

Thanks again everyone.

So, so much to say

What a week. Not a normal week, but the worst week ever.

The Bean feels better. Much better. (He still has the croupy cough, but who doesn't this time of year?) That is the good news.

The Bean's school set up a meeting with The Breadman and I on Wednesday to discuss "how to get him back on track."

We talked to The Bean and explained to him that he had done nothing wrong, he had been dealt a terrible hand the past six weeks or so, but we had it under control. He knew he might need tutoring and would have to work very hard. But, keep in mind that this is an all "A" with a "B" in Math child with a perfect behavior record. So, any work he needed to be done would be done by him and I would help over Thanksgiving Week and once school started again. We knew he would need to make up a lot, but some could just be left as is.

So, we meet with six teachers, the School Nurse (never did figure out why she was there), the Counselor and the Principal. The Counselor who had told me before that she is there for the child and the parent, crossed her arms across her chest and started talking about our "sickly child and his mental state." (Excuse me, he is not sickly. He nearly went crazy due to a drug interaction.) Then she says I (me) cannot guarantee that he will come back. (Uh, yes I can.) Then she says if he were to come back he could not miss on more day the entire school year. (Well, that would be our hopes too, but kids barf and spew and have fevers occasionally.)

Then, his Language Arts teacher crosses her arms across her chest and says, "NO! He is too far behind. He cannot catch up. He has missed too much." (Say, WHAT??? In the past six weeks (which he has attended many of those days, but his attendance has been sporadic) he has missed so much in one writing class that he is beyond repair??????) Another teacher chimes in that it would be hard to catch him up, but with time and hard work, it could be done. Two teachers said he could come back, jump back in and be fine. Another teacher never said a thing.

Then the Principal says, "You need to HomeSchool him. He is too far behind. He is a bright child and we would welcome him back next year." And then, they all got up and left the room. End of discussion.

So, the entire school is soooo concerned that he is behind and cannot catch up that they are willing to set him free with no promise of an education at all? Of course, I can Homschool, and I intend to do so, but what the expletive are they doing?

I cried the first day and I cried the second day, but today? Oh, today I am one pissed off Mama. On Monday I intend to call the Arkansas Board of Education and file a complaint. They made no offer of education to my son or helping him get back on track. They threw him out like a piece of trash. I took his books to school today and hardly anyone even acknowledged us. The Secretary called me "Ma'am." I have volunteered thousands of hours for this school and worked there three years. My son is a perfect kid at school and has earned reward after reward for good behavior and grades.

I have done a bit of research and found (as I assumed) that NO SCHOOL CAN DENY A CHILD AN EDUCATION. The only way they can throw him out is if he was suspended. And, our particular school has an in house suspension - if you are suspended, you go to school and are taught individually. Hell, he'd have been better off if I would have let the mental issues go full throttle and he would have taken a knife to school.

My research also shows that any child suffering from a physical or mental condition whether it be permanent or temporary MUST be given a complete and total education. And, if they do not do this, they can lose their Federal Funding.

I intend to fight this, but will I let him return to school? That, I am still unsure of at this point. They have hurt him. He did nothing wrong. How am I to believe they will treat him well or educate him fairly?

We moved to this town before I ever got pregnant so our child could attend this particular school. Now, they have forever changed our lives. His friends, his social life, his education, his fun, his life. It's all up in the air.

I am SO PISSED.

Ideas??????

It's America's Fastest Growing Quiz Sensation...

Welcome to today's edition of "What's the matter with The Bean?" Yes, I knew it. I jinxed it. The Claritin-D saga continues. His mental state is much improved and I am happy to see the old Bean come back. He had been so out of it, not paying attention, not answering questions, just sort of sitting and staring a lot. But, his personality is coming back. On Friday he sounded a bit congested. By last night he was holding his chest and having trouble breathing deep. I took him to a Medi-Serve Clinic this morning. We were second in the door and in and out in less than an hour. The doctor was a retired doctor that travels around to the local MediServes and fills in on the weekends. He was fantastic. He understood everything that had been going on. I told him about the abdominal pain and being referred to a Psychiatrist and he all but got mad thinking about it. "Terrible!" he said. "A shame" he said. "Bad enough to have a stomachache and then be told you are crazy on top of it!", he said. He was funny. He prescribed the Bean a Z-Pac and a decongestant that doesn't have any of the same ingredients as Claritin-D, so this should fix him up. Tomorrow is "Do or Die" at school. He comes back 100% or we talk about Homeschooling. The doctor was adamant that he not go to school for two days. He's incredibly sick and incredibly contagious. He wrote us a letter and an excuse. I've emailed the Counselor with the latest saga. Lord willing they will give us a few more days. If not, I'm a Homeschooling Mom. Which, I really wouldn't mind. But, he would miss his friends and lots of aspects of school. I'm sure they can give us a few more days. I am so tired of this mess.

Yesterday I did have a minute to sneak over to a yard sale at a friend's house. She said they had no one come to their sale and she was packing it up. That was nearly noon and she had only sold a few things. The city made this new rule about signs being 15 feet from the Intersections, so people are putting signs in all crazy places and you really cannot see them. I've had a hard time spotting signs and I'm looking for them. Some people just drive by, see a sign and stop. They don't live and breathe yard sales. Can you imagine? Anyway, I spotted this quilt under a table in a box and grabbed it. She said it was probably close to 100 years old and all hand sewn and I knew it would be expensive. But, she asked if $4.00 was okay. Yep!
It needs an Oxi Soak, but I still think it's great. She thought it was a cutter, but it's really in pretty good condition. The edges have wear, but that's just part of an old quilt if you ask me.
I got his nice storage basket for $1.00. I've really taken to nice sturdy baskets for storage instead of Rubbermaid totes and the like. I don't know what I will store in it.
I might keep this in it.
Or I might keep this in it.
I got this jewelry box made out of a cedar log for $1.00. It smells great and is a piece of folk art. Not sure if I will keep it or take a chance on ebay with it.
And this little set of honeycomb Thanksgiving decorations set me back a whole dime. They are from 1986, which isn't true vintage, but still sorta vintage.
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The Bean and I missed an opportunity for quite an adventure yesterday. The local Taco Bell burned to the ground. It caught on fire at 2:00 in the afternoon. They got all the customers and employees out, so that is a very good thing. The News said you could see the flames from mile away. Now, that would have been something to see! The flag was still in front of Taco Bell flying high today. It was cinged on the ends. I thought it was fitting to see a battle wound flag flying on Veteran's Day. I hope they keep it and fly it in front of the new one after they rebuild.