Fun Friday- Bargains!

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So, on the first Fun Friday of the new year I thought I’d write about some fun bargains I’ve picked up fairly recently.

First up is this fabulous lamp-

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IMG_1231I thought I’d show it from a couple of different angles. If you look closely enough you might be able to make out an image of me in my pj’s taking the photo. Ahem.

I should back up for a bit of back story. The weekend of Trav’s birthday we (all of the Buttons including Daisy and Amanda’s boyfriend, Daniel) headed to Birmingham to have a late Christmas with my parents and also to make sure they were okay since my dad had been in the hospital and my mom was sick. It was kind of a lot to deal with. And putting a birthday party, Christmas and hospital stay in the same sentence is weird but we’d already planned the party. Anyway, after we’d established that everything was okay and were heading back home, I asked my mom if she had any end tables that she didn’t want anymore. Which she did and was kind enough to give to me. I’m not posting pictures of that yet because I haven’t decided how to refinish it. For now it holds this lovely lamp- which was quite the bargain.

A couple of weeks ago I decided that a shopping trip with my girls was exactly what we needed. We planned to go to Target (x2 since there are 2 in town), the mall, Pier One (for me since the girls hate that store), and TJ Maxx. I’m not sure at what point we ran out of steam but it was before we’d hit the mall. Chloe and I were tired but my little powder keg of energy (Halle) still wanted her mall trip. I appeased her by offering to go to American Signature Furniture instead- it’s one of her favorite places. As we looked all over the store, and I do mean *all over*, I noticed that there were quite a bit of items with 75% off tags. I didn’t pay much attention to any of it because I didn’t plan on buying anything. A little later the most gorgeous sunset I’ve seen in a while caught my eye. I gasped and pointed it out to the girls and we walked over to the window for a closer look- and I stood right next to a beautiful, mercury glass lamp that had a 75% off tag on it. I looked at the price tag and even though I hate math I knew that 75% off of $100 is $25- SOLD! I’m not sure if American Signature is still having that clearance sale but if your in the market for lamps or accessories you might want to check it out.

The moral of the story here is that one should always take time to appreciate a sunset.

Next up is a fabulous quilt-

IMG_1007I found this a while ago, maybe in autumn? I was shopping at Target and happened upon a clearance end cap where this lovely quilt was marked down from $79.99 to $23.98! It’s king size and we have a queen size bed but we’ve used a king size comforter for a few years and it’s been just what we needed for sleeping harmony- since Travis tends to hog the covers.  It also solved the problem we have every winter where our room looks like we’re a couple of poor college students huddled under whatever old comforter we drag out of the closet. This keeps us nice and toasty since I put it under our current comforter and it keeps me cool when the weather is warmer since I can take the comforter off the bed and not be embarrassed about it.

As an added bonus the girls love it too.

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January is bargain season, happy hunting!

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Pinterest Favorites- Bedroom Edition

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Today I’m posting a few of my favorites from Pinterest. Like this lovely slipcovered headboard.

Pinterest Favorites 1

Better Homes and Gardens

This turquoise would be fun in Chloe or Halle’s room.

Pinterest Favorites 3

Better Homes and Gardens

I love the pattern on this headboard.

Pinterest Favorites 2

Better Homes and Gardens

I don’t actually even remember pinning this one but apparently I was in a super fancy mood.

Pinterest Favorites 4

Soft Surroundings.com

I’m mostly a jeans and t-shirt sort of gal but I think that every girl occasionally likes to slip into a little black dress, pumps, and red lipstick. This is the bedroom version of that.

So, out of the four do you have any favorites? Today my favorite is #4 but that could change tomorrow.

Homeschool Fun

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In one of Halle’s recent homeschool lessons they talked about discovering ancient civilizations and archaeology. The activity that accompanied the lesson suggested that I get some sand, dump it in the backyard and bury some household items for my young explorer to discover.

I quickly decided that was the most ridiculous activity ever.

I mean, kudos to the mom that doesn’t mind running to a garden store to pick up a 50 pound bag of sand, is thrilled at the prospect of having a sand pile in the backyard for all of the neighborhood cats to discover and is completely fine burying her can opener outside.

I’m not that girl.

I did like the idea though and came up with something that was more practical for us. I used a Costco sized (and super cheap) box of salt that I had on hand, a rubbermaid container with a lid, and small toys.

When I put everything together I explained to Halle what an archaeologist does. Then we came up with a story about the ancient city of Fritata that once was located in the jungle but got swallowed up by the desert leaving behind their treasures for us to discover. Then as we uncovered each item we imagined what they were made from and what they might have been used for.

It might have gotten a bit silly.

Then we took pictures and it got a bit hammy :)

We discovered treasures.

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Then we took them back to our camp and dusted and cataloged them.

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Then we rejoiced over our finds and decided that Halle’s picture should hang in a museum next to them.

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We did this activity again today because Halle loves it and also because she’d rather do anything if it gets her out of doing math. And I realized that as she begged me to tell her a story about the ancient civilization of Bajunga that this is the most fun for her because we spend time together making up stories.

That’s what homeschool is about for us.

Plum Skillet Cake

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I love to read magazines and they’re so full of good ideas that I also hate to get rid of them- much to the dismay of Travis and Amanda. I subscribed to Martha Stewart Living a while back and found a recipe for a plum skillet cake that looked uh-mazing. So I saved it- for two years.

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I’m partial to anything baked in a skillet- for a couple of reasons. When I was in high school I made a pineapple upside down cake in my mom’s cast iron skillet and I loved it. I don’t remember whether or not anyone else did but I was on quite a pineapple kick for a while. I also love skillet cakes because they aren’t fussy- the ingredients list is small and they’re really hard to mess up. Which is good because after I got all of the ingredients out I decided to measure my skillet and realized that it was 2 inches bigger in diameter than what was called for. Oops.

So I did what any good baker that hates math would do- I doubled the recipe. I mean, I could have (tried to) figure the volume and use the geometry skills that I don’t possess to figure it out but I just wanted to eat plum cake. And what could be better than plum cake times two?

So, I mixed up some yummy things in my Kitchen Aid. Which for this recipe isn’t remotely necessary but it’s already sitting on the counter and I’d have to dig for my hand mixer. I’m also a least resistance sort of gal.

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Then I let Chloe and Halle arrange the plums on the batter. I think it looks like a flower.

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Then we baked….for a bit longer than suggested because I’d doubled it. Then I had to cover it with aluminum foil because the cake needed a bit more time but the top was getting too brown. Ahem. If I’d been really smart I could have just used a cake pan with the right diameter- but I wanted to use a skillet, dangit!

All’s well that ends well…

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Mmmmm. It was so.good. The cake is lightly sweet and the plums are beautifully tart. All of the Buttons loved it and have requested it again. I think I’ll make it the next time we have overnight guests because it goes great with coffee.

I’ll give you the recipe and you can follow Martha’s recipe instead of my shenanigans. It will probably work better that way.

Martha Stewart Living, August 2010

  • Prep Time 15 minutes
  • Total Time 1 hour
  • Yield Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for skillet
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for skillet
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • Coarse salt
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
  • 2 ripe medium plums, thinly sliced

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch ovenproof skillet (preferably cast-iron); dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Beat butter and 3/4 cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk.
  2. Pour batter into prepared skillet, and smooth top with an offset spatula. Fan plums on top, and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Enjoy!

Finally

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I’ve started three different blog posts in the last few weeks but wasn’t able to finish any of them. I just haven’t been feelin’ it. Actually in the last few months I’ve barely been able to even read a blog much less think about writing. I guess I’ve just really needed a break. It’s hard to believe that blogging would be something that I’d stick with for 8 years! Through good and bad and more than one “break” I’ve actually stuck with it. I’m toying with some blog goals and some personal ones too…which I realize I’m sort of late for but Christmas time was way too busy for me to even think about goals for a new year. I’m not the only one, right?

So, I thought that I’d share a few vacation pictures that I’m sure you’ll be interested in.

Travis and I went to Dillard, GA for my birthday in November which was so close to a place that I’d vacationed when I was in college that we had to visit. Highlands and Franklin, NC made me want to move to the mountains as soon as I graduated and although I ended up in Tennessee I still managed to end up in Franklin.

Here are some highlights from Highlands…

The shops in this corridor had glass doorknobs on the outside :)

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This store was my favorite. IMG_1090

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Nearly every furniture piece was painted in fabulous colors. I got a lot of good ideas and I’m pretty sure there’s some furniture painting in my future.

Our next stop was the visitor center and the very nice lady working there (also a former Floridian) told us that we could look at the rooms in any of the local inns. So, we headed over to The Main Street Inn and asked if we could look around. To our surprise we were told that we could go inside any of them that we wanted. Here’s one of the king sized rooms. Almost all of them had claw foot tubs with separate showers and they were all decorated in white. They were beautiful and romantic.

IMG_1106The Inn also had a lovely (and delicious smelling) restaurant. I really want to visit again and try the pot roast.

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We did our share of nature things that day too. There are quite a few waterfalls on the drive from Highlands to Franklin and we stopped at all of them.IMG_1115

It was lovely being able to take a couple of days to spend with just Travis. Although we did constantly talk about bringing the girls back and all the things we wanted to do with them. And I decided that although I fell in love with the mountains here I definitely ended up in the right Franklin.

Where We Are Now

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When I wrote my last post I thought that I’d follow it up with telling about how much it hurt Amanda to be abandoned by her bio dad but the more I thought about it the more I realized that it’s not really my story to tell. Only Amanda really knows what that’s like. I know the frustration from a mother’s perspective of being unable to really get to the heart of what was wrong. But I think that today, what I really want to show you is where we are now. Because where we are now is a beautiful picture of God’s amazing faithfulness and love. He guided us through all the rough waters, met us when we really didn’t know what to do and has led Amanda to a place of abundance.

This is my girl now in college and she’s half of the hosting team for her college TV show. Her confidence completely amazes me and I’ve always admired her ability to completely light up a stage. (And you can watch her on REVtv.com, check the listings for RAW TV show times)

This past September all of the Buttons plus Amanda’s boyfriend, Daniel, met at my parent’s house in Birmingham so he could, well, meet the parents.

Seriously, how cute are they?

We spent part of an afternoon during that really short trip at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (it’s completely gorgeous and completely free btw).

We were kind of silly…at least Amanda was.

And we were also fascinated with all manner of tiny critters…

We talked and laughed and got to know Daniel a bit.

We liked him a lot.

My point in all of this is to give you a snapshot into our life now. We’ve had many obstacles to overcome but none of those obstacles were too difficult for God. When I look back on everything and see how bizarre and extreme it all was and look at things now it almost seems like a fairy tale but really it’s a miracle.

And now, I’ll leave you with this. Your situation is not too big for God to handle. You have not fallen so far, your loved ones have not fallen so far, your circumstances are not too difficult for God to guide you through them. Pray, ask for the miraculous, ask for wisdom, ask for God to speak to you in a way that you can hear him and understand what he’s saying, then obey.

“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure.

It is also peace loving,

gentle at all times,

and willing to yield to others.

It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.” James 3:17

Blessings,

Amy