Blogidays December 5- wreaths, estate sale, a little food and a question

Hello everyone 

Long time readers of this blog may remember by brother makes fresh Christmas wreaths every year.  Here are a few of the ones from the past years 

past wreaths

He delivered 3 to my house yesterday

This is the one on our front door 

These 2 belong to other relatives and have already been sent to their homes

 

Ducky approves of the wreaths.  They smell so good!  

I cook most every night but last night we thought about takeout and then decided to just cook 2 very easy convenience foods 

This morning,  I did a little food prep.  

I made a salad and a small box of sandwich toppings.  I also cooked a big batch of rice as my son requested some so he could make fried rice.  

I cook converted rice in a Zojirushi rice cooker that we’ve had since 1989.  It only cooks rice but we like how it cooks rice where it is not sticky.  

We will have fried rice later this week too.  

This afternoon,  I found out about an estate sale for my aunt’s cousin.  My son and I waited until it was almost over to go.  We wanted to avoid crowds ( and we did) and we neither need much but we knew there was nice stuff there. Everything was half price of the marked price 

For $12.50 I got all these disposable party goods.....

 

This really nice kids puzzle set with 4 puzzles.  The pieces are quite thick and sturdy. .....

  

I worked them all when I got home to see what the puzzles looked like and if all the pieces were included.  

We also got a hard cover book, set of metal coasters that my son will use  under small plant pots and 10 stemmed glasses that will work for desserts or drinks.  (No photos of those 3 items)

And do any of you happen to know the name or brand of this vintage baby doll? 

Have a good weekend everyone 

❤️ Rhonda 

My brother does stuff too

I have 2 bachelor brothers, they are both great guys but very different.
The professor brother took up wreath making several years ago and here are this years Christmas wreaths. 

this one is on our front door,  and when I took the picture, I did not have it hung up right.  The snow is supposed to be right on the top to look like snow fell on it 
If you look in the window reflection, you can see our real snow in the yard.
Ours has a little red bird on it.


He lives about an hour away and when he came to our house this week, he brought our wreath as well as 3 others.

this one,  with a pretty white cross, is for our daughters home.
oh, dear, this photograph is not turned right either, but if you read my blog much, you know photography is not my strong suit. 

Grandson Gavin admiring the wreath that is for his home
Yes, he has goggles on his head and No,  we have not been swimming.  He is fun little guy that likes to pretend.  I just noticed that behind Gavin's head,  you can see his brother Braeden's head.  Braeden is back there where the pecans are,  he likesd moving them from one bucket to another.

This one will go to my parents house- can you see the little gold and silver birds on it?

Gavin and Granddaughter Elizabeth looking at the wreaths and checking out the ones that go to their homes. 

The grands like the wreaths and they were especially happy to see their great uncle. 

down the memory lane of wreaths

2011 Christmas wreath this one had apple green trim

2010 Christmas wreath

2008 Christmas wreath

2008 Fall Wreath

2009 Easter Wreath

for me, a wreath is not just a pretty decoration.  To Christians, they are a powerful symbol of our faith.

The circle of the wreath reminds us of God Himself, His eternity and endless mercy, which has no beginning or end.  The evergreen symbolizes the hope that we have in God, the hope of newness, of renewal, of eternal life.

Frugal February 7, 8 and 9 kitchen clean out, Google Lens, Dollar Tree things for my daughter

Hello everyone 

I’ve spent almost all day working on my kitchen. 

I took everything out of the lower cabinets and some things from the upper cabinets.

Then I  cleaned the shelves and put in new shelf paper.

It was a big job and I am tired. I still want to put some labels on the doors.

Most everything is put back now, and I have a big discard pile.

 And I will show you after pictures tomorrow.

Do you all know about Google lens?

You need the Google app. It was already on my Apple phone and it was also on my husband’s android phone.

It’s very useful if you’re trying to identify something. 

There were some mystery items in that batch of sewing stuff I got Saturday so I tried out Google lens for the first time.

To use Google lens, open the app, and then touch the camera icon.

Then take a picture of your mystery item.

The app will probably tell you exactly what your mystery item’s name is. 

It will tell you what it may be selling for in different places or where to buy one. 

I learned about this app, watching a YouTuber identify items in a thrift store.

I think it’s very useful. My husband thinks it could be useful to identify the name of a part on something when you’re trying to fix it.

So remember your Google app next time you have a mystery. It might be able to help you solve it.

A budget, but very delicious recipe that I made this week is nut bread. The recipe is originally from a Susan Branch  cookbook.

I’ve been baking this for years.

It has no added fat of any kind in the recipe, except for the egg and the butter that is used to grease the pan.

  

We like it a lot. Especially toasted with a little butter on top.

I don’t guess I gave out enough clues about which of the dollar tree items my daughter requested. So I’ll just go ahead and show you.

.

She wanted the gnome, and those little carrots that I did not take a photo of, probably for her tiered tray in her kitchen.

She wanted the coloring tablecloth for her long dining table, they have three school-age children who will enjoy coloring the Valentine tablecloth.

On the right side of the picture, you can see their double entry doors and that is why she wanted the two bunny wreaths. 

And last, the felt bunny garland  will go on their mantle for Easter. 

She currently has felt hearts there for Valentine’s Day.




Nobody guessed  the correct items and I really wasn’t clear enough.

I will host a giveaway of some sort very soon

❤️ Rhonda 

A fresh wreath, Irish dancing, a madhouse and CVS

Good morning everyone,
I am normally an early riser and am up and going even earlier today as I have a dental cleaning appointment at 8 a.m. I make my appointments months in advance and I guess this sounded like a good time then but now I am wishing it was later.  Never mind,  I'll go and get it over with.

My brother makes fresh wreaths every year and he brought ours Friday.

This is our 2nd Christmas decoration of 2016.  

I think it is so pretty.  Besides normal tree cuttings, it has pine cones and these dainty blue gray berries.  Whatever they are,  they look great on the wreath.





Our oldest granddaughter has been taking Irish Step Dancing classses for close to a year.  She danced in a Christmas recital this weekend and it was so sweet.
The youngest girls all wear these velvet skirts and tops with the thick white socks and lace up soft sole shoes called Ghillies.

Bath and Body works had a big candle sale this weekend.  I planned to go and buy 4 and be done.  But when we got there, our store was packed! The check out line wrapped all the way through the store and the shoppers trying to select their candles were elbow to elbow.

We just stood outside in amazement for a bit, then took a picture and walked on by.
I like bargains but I was not going to stand in line for hours to save $10 or so on unnecessary candles.

I did shop at a very quiet CVS on our way to church.
The diapers, Dove products and makeup were all deals.  The cough medicine is something my husband needs
I started with $15 in Extracarebucks, some store, app and manufacturer coupons.  Before deals, my total was $90 but I paid $26 and got back $15 Extracarebucks.  I'm happy with that as the mediocre was a $14 need.

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas here

Fresh green wreath made by my brother,  I think this is the 4th year he has made a Christmas one for me.  He has also made Thanksgiving and Easter wreaths.   

close up of a little bird on the wreath

green tree with lots of birds and mostly red ornaments

and a white tree - it looks better in person

Nativity set

the butler gets a Santa hat this time of year.
Theo is usually a good sport but he draws the line at wearing hats or sweaters for that matter

the cutest Christmas decoration at our house is Gavin, he is holding a Santa doll my mom made about 50 years ago. 

November update

November is halfway over and  I finally put out some fall/Thanksgiving decorations this week,
I think I might be the very last blogger to do so........
Anyway,  decorations are very simple this year.
Everything is stuff I already had.
The jars on the mantle are filled with faux apples and pears

I just made the thankful banner this week,  so I guess it is new.
But I used only supplies I already had
I used a Cricut to cut out the brown oak leaves and cream letters, them glued them to a some craft ribbon.

2 wreaths made by my brother,
 this wall leads into our kitchen and faces the dining room.

keeping it real - can you see the trash can?  

plastic canvas candlestick Pilgrims and Indians I made 10 or more  years ago
The turkey salt and pepper shakers belonged to my grandmother.  

more turkey S&Ps, that will actually be used.
I don't care if these get handled but I would be very sad if  something happened to my grandmother's set

my father in law painted this turkey and it is hanging by our front door.

some very simple silhouettes I made of my grandchildren

I took profile pictures of them, printed them and cut them out of black paper.
Then I scanned them and shrunk them to fit these little frames and printed them
in black and white on paper.
I've seen lots of method to do them,  this is just my method and probably not the best but I am really happy with them.
The frames were 10 cents at a yard and I have 4 of them,
so when future grandbabies come along,  I can add their profiles to this grouping.



One other change I made is about comments on my blog.  I used to allow anonymous comments but I have been getting so much spam,  about 3 day and they've mostly been anonymous.
I am not going to add the word verification but I did change the settings to not allow anonymous comments anymore.
So if you want to leave a comment but don't want to do the blogger thing,  then just email me
stwoliver3@yahoo.com

This month

Hello everyone.  

I thought you all might like to see our Seven.  We were all together for lunch yesterday to celebrate my mother in law's 80th birthday.  

Life is good here, to say the least.  

One family group photo from the birthday party - it was at the clubhouse of our aunt's retirement home and was a very nice setting for a gathering. 

In the photo are my in laws, my husband and me, our 7 adult children&spouses and the 7 grands.  

My to do list and manicure from last week.....I haven't made my list for this week yet. 

The nails are Impress press on nails, with a sticker type adhesive and I really like them. 

My brother's tradition is to make fresh wreaths for us- here is this year's.  He decorates them different each year and they are always so nice. 

One of the pleasures of retirement- Grandpa and the grandchildren sharing lots of time together.  

CVS

I didn't go last week but I went yesterday. 

I used 4 $2 Tide coupons that were in a Sunday paper a few weeks ago and a $5 ECB. 

4 Tide detergent pod packs were $2.76 and I got back $5 ECB.  

Days are busy here and we have yet to find a routine with husband being retired but I think that will be happen after all the busyness of December.  

Would you all believe I have not bought or wrapped a single gift nor have I rounded up any stocking stuffers? And it takes a lot of stuffers for the 20 or so stockings that will here.  

So, this will be last blog post for 2015.  I hope to keep reading blogs and I plan to be back blogging in January.  

Merry Christmas everyone !