Jeff's "vacation" day

Jeff took a vacation day from his job today, but he worked pretty hard at home. Our home does not yet have a complete set of gutters and he wanted to add to them.
So early this morning, he measured the east side of our house and off to Lowes we went to buy all the parts.

Here he is, just getting started. I helped when he was attaching the long pieces by holding one end and handing the drill or gutter pieces up to him.
The whole job only took 3 trips to Lowes and a lot less time and money than I expected it would.
We've had a lot of rain this spring but no rain at all is in this week's forecast so we will have to wait a while to see how much the gutters help.

Then we needed to do a few errands and since we were right beside one of the best thrift stores in my town, we stopped there and I did a little shopping.
Not shown - 2 pair of shorts for Gavin,
"Blueberries for Sal" childrens book,
some interfacing for future sewing projects.

they had baskets full of thread for 10 cents a spool - I got 22

This embroidered towel was in a bundle of 4 other hand towels for $1.50 - I really like this one but the others are not-brand-new terry cloth and they will get used for rags.

One of our errands was to take some things to Nina she wanted to borrow so we also spent a little time with sweet baby Elizabeth. She is doing just fine and sweet as a baby can be.

This weeks yard sale finds

Our neighborhood had their annual sale on Saturday and lots of homes had sales.
We shop at yard sales so often that I can be very selective about what I buy. I found a few too-good-to-be-true purchases.

First is this week's Pyrex - a blue divided dish $3

2 Corningware pans - one is a skillet and the other is a large saucepan with lid - $2 for both

At an estate sale, I spent $2 and got a stack of flower pots and all this fabric and muslin

I roughly counted the muslin and I think one piece is about 6 yards long and the other is 12 yards. It is really nice quality fabric too.

a floormat-play gym for Elizabeth - the music pad plays Mozart very softly


I started going to yard sales very regularly about 4 years ago and Jeff started going last summer. At first, he usually just drove me and sat in the truck. Now he looks with me at most sales and I think he likes to shop at them as much as I do.
I did not even see this thing at the sale where he bought it but he liked it alot. And now, we own it! I am not sure if I am happy about that or not.

Who knows? maybe we will both like it so much and use it everyday - then we will might look like Bob and Jillian.

See more thrifted treasures at
Rhoda's Southern Hospitalityand
Selena the Apron Thrift Girl

Pink blooms in the front yard

This Rose of Sharon bush is about 10 years old. It was already planted here when we moved here. It starts blooming every June and stays is full bloom until the first frost. It takes almost no care at all except for a little pruning to keep it from getting taller than the house.


So if you are looking for some easy pretty flowers that last a long time, you might consider a Rose of Sharon bush.

Remember all the baby hydrangea? The all seem to be white except this one is a pretty pink one.


we went to a few yard sales this morning and I will post our finds later.
I hope everyone who reads this is having a good weekend.

How does my garden grow?

not wonderful but not terrible either. The flowers are doing better than the edible things.


our 3 tomato plants - kind of straggly but we've been picking a handful every day

jalapeno peppers - I thought I planted 1/2 bell peppers and 1/2 jalapeno, but they all seem to be jalapenos

dill plant with Gavin behind it

squash, cukes, cilantro

herbs and veggies - I think this shows the squash and cucumbers, maybe the basil and some radishes

Yellow rose bush from Aldi

tiny tea rosebush

a few sunflowers

Marigolds with tiny buds that should open soon and thumbelina zinnias

Cooking at Nina's

About 5 or 6 weeks ago, I helped Nina fill her freezer with meals. Nina and John both liked them alot and they planned on doing it again on June 5th. But baby Elizabeth was born a little early and they did not get done it done before she came.
Nina is recovering so quickly, she wanted to get some more meals done and thought if I helped her, we could do it today.
So we did!

No gourmet recipes today - they both like casserole type meals so that is what we made.
The first casseroles finished were 3 tater tot casseroles.


Other meals
pasta with cheese, broccoli and ham
from Tammy's Recipes Saucy Chicken and Broccoli bake
From Taste of Home Meatloaf
porcupine meatballs
creamy chicken cordon bleu bake
and there might of been some other things cooked too but my memory is not working so good.



Elizabeth is one week old. She was happy we were cooking a lot so her parents will have nice meals for a month with very little prep or cleanup - so there will be more time for them to dote on her.