Here's my cabinet after putting the crakle finish and red paint on it. I think it turned out really well. It's hard to tell in the pictures. I tried taking them close up so you could see the crackling. The crackle stuff is really neat to use, but you have to be careful not to overwork the paint because it will smear and make a big mess. I hope to get it decorated up with my blue willow dishes from my grandma and some other stuff and put those pictures on soon. I'm really getting into the decorating and now I'm looking for a pie safe. This is fun!!

My New Project!!!!

I finally went and picked up my Christmas present today!! Actually I had gotten money to put towards it and wasn't able to get it until today.

We have such a small house and no room for anything. I have been wanting some sort of storage cabinet to store some big items that I have no room for anywhere else such as my pressure cooker and sewing machine. I have always loved hoosier type cabinets. That's not what I ended up with because they don't have very much storage and a very big price tag.

So this is the beauty that I ended up with. I am not sure what its actually called other than a hutch. It had a really bad paint job on it, so we are painting it. I put the first coat on today. I'm going to start decorating my house in primitive decor. I painted it with a tan kind of color first and tomorrow I will go back with a crackle glaze and then put antique red on top of that. So it will have a primitive crackle type look. I hope it turns out good and I will post pictures when its done.

This is what it looked like before! Pictures aren't so good!

This is after the first coat! The lighting isn't really good it makes it look yellow but its really a tan color!! I'm so excited to finish this!!

My idea for new school hours!!!!

Dear School System,

I have a request. I'm the mother of two children a kindergartener and second grader. Today school was two hours late. I'm assuming for the cold weather. I request that, that be the normal time for school. What does two hours mean anyway? My morning went so smooth, both kids slept until 7:30. They got out of the beds with no complaints at all, even smiles on their faces. They sat down and enjoyed some fresh out of the oven chocolate chip muffins prepared by their nicely rested mother. Instead of a bowl of cold cereal or poptart. They played and laughed and talked all morning. Then they got their clothes on, hair combed, and teeth brushed without whining. They even helped packed their lunches.

Now I know their is rules about needing the children in school for a certain amount of time a day. And I defiantly don't want them to have to stay at school later. But it makes it so nice when they are able to sleep later than 6:20 and don't have to be on the bus at 6:50. That's just a little early and I do not believe in driving my kids to school when we have a school bus that comes to get them. Okay I know this will never happen. But it sure would be nice. I guess there wouldn't be enough hours in the day to cram all that education that they are supposed to learn into.

Maybe we could have a two hour delay at least once a week....say every Monday. I think we would have happier kids which in turn would lead to happier teachers and mommies. Thanks for listening.

Sincerly,

One well rested and happy mommy, even on Monday morning!!!!

P.S. I do value my kids education and want them to grow up to be very smart adults! But I like happy kids too!!!

Frugal Valentines Day!!

My husband has to work every weekend, even Valentine's Day. His day off is Wednesday's, so we usually go to town if we need to or just spend some time together. Well this Wednesday we had to go to town for a few things and decided we would eat at Texas Steakhouse for Valentine's Day. On the way over he asked if I was going to get him a card or anything. I said I hadn't planned on it because money is tight. He said well there is no need in wasting money on cards we will just go to WalMart and read them to each other.

How frugal is that. We had lunch because it's cheaper than dinner and we read cards to each other at Walmart. Actually we went to KMart instead and we looked at the cards and they were too picked over anyway, good thing we wasn't buying them.

I thought that was so funny! So if you can't afford a card for your honey this year just go to the store and read them to each other. You can't get more romantic than that....LOL! He cracks me up!!

Girl Scout Cookies!!!!!

Emma is a daisy girl scout this year. I am the co leader of her troop and also the cookie mom. We picked up the girl scout cookies on Saturday. Oh my they are heavenly, even with a cold. There is just something about girl scout cookies, they are so good. I have my freezer stocked full and now I'm trying to practice self control to not eat them all. I haven't even opened thin mints yet because I will eat the whole box in a matter of minutes. So what kind is your favorite or are you like me and like them all.

The History of APRONS

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Send this to those who would know, and love, the story about Grandma's aprons. Or it can be a good history lesson for those that have no idea how the apron played a part in our lives.And don't forget the string of safety pins!!

I recieved this as an email and just loved it. I have always loved aprons. I don't always wear one (only when I think about it), but I would love to start. I never got the opportunity to know my dad's mom, I really wish I did. She always wore an apron and my aunt said she still remembers her carrying eggs inside in her apron. I would love to have one of her aprons. Just to know the stories that an apron holds is really special to me. I have really started liking vintage or antique things, especially kitchen type things, because of the story behind them. I guess it makes me think of how hard the ladies before us worked to take care of their family and now we have so much technology and things to make life simple and I crave a life like the good ole days. When things were simpler, even though you worked twice as hard.

Happy 1st Anniversary!!

I just realized that yesterday was my one year anniversary for this blog. It seems like I just started it. I really enjoy it. I don't update on a daily basis, because sometimes my life seems a little boring and don't think anyone would care.

So my blog title is "getting thrifty". I was on a mission to get thrifty and live simpler in '08 (now '09). That's still my mission. I did do better, but not as good as I would like. So I will keep on trying and if I come up with any brillant new ways of saving money I will let you know. In the meantime keep on coming back and keeping up with me and my family. I love to get comments so please leave me some. I really like to know who, if anybody reads my blog.

We're Sick!!!

I am sick. Yuck! I have blew my nose so much that I look like Rudolph. I have sneezed no less than 5,000 times today, and practically coughed up a lung. I thought I had been doing so good this year, I hadn't been sick other than a little sniffles. Now I'm making up for it. I probably over did it today too. I was in a cleaning mood this morning and scrubbed my bathroom from top to bottom and vacuumed all my floors and washed the bathroom rugs and did lots of laundry. Now I feel like crashing.

Not only am I sick so is Emma. She's had a cold for about a week, but today the school called at 11:00 and said that she was complaining of a belly ache and felt like she was running a fever. She wouldn't let the school nurse take her temperature, because they use a regular thermometer and she said she didn't know how to do it. She's only used the ones for the ear. Of course my thermometers are not working so I don't know if she was running fever. She was very pale and when she got home she went to bed and slept from about 12:00 to 3:30. When she woke up she felt a little better. I sure hope she's not getting a stomach bug. I can handle wiping snotty noses, but I don't do so well cleaning up puke!!! Yuck!

Hope everyone else is doing Well!!

Finally We Got Some SNOW!

We finally got some real snow this week. We only have about three inches, but it's sticking around because it's been so cold. The kids were so happy they were out of school yesterday and today and it will probably be closed again tomorrow. Travis pulled the kids on their sled with the four wheeler this afternoon, they had a blast. I have a cold and wasn't feeling like being out in the frigid temps so I stayed inside beside the warm fire and made homemade hot cocoa for them to have when they come in from playing.

I like snow, but now I'm ready for Spring. It has seemed like a long, cold winter. This weekend its supposed to be sixty. That will be a nice treat from the 10 degrees it was this morning.